Chickens freaking out at night

[ChickenMommy]

Okay, I have 6 chickens that are all about 10 weeks old.
I moved them to their coop about 1 week ago. They seem to be adjusting well and have finally discvoered their roosts.
The problem is at duck they cry(chirp) profushishly(cant spell, sorry). I have to phiscally put them into the nests boxes on the bottum level(the coop is 2 levels) so they can go to sleep.
Last night they were all on the top level and ramming into the corner, into eachother, and on top of eachother. I had to stick a pole in their and push them toward the edge so they would jump off to the bottum level andthen they went into the nest boxes. Except they all wanted to get into the same one, not enough room! I had to put several of them in another nest box, many times until they finally settled down.
Is this normal???

 

[SandraChick]

Chickens typically roost on well....roosts- not in the nesting boxes.

Also, until they figure out who is boss...it may be a little rambuncious for a week or two.

sandra

 

[CarriBrown]

They will pretty much sleep where ever they want. Mine sleep in their nests but I was not so clever when I put the nestboxes up high and the roost down low.

They are still young and that behavior sounds "baby-ish" and they are probably still adjusting to the move. It's stressful to them.

 

[Llysse]

You don't actually want them sleeping in the nests; they should have a roost to sleep on. The nests are for laying. If they sleep in there, they'll fill them with poop, and your eggs will all be dirty. Preferably, the roost should be higher than the nest boxes, because the chickens will all want to sleep in the highest place possible, as you've seen. Each chicken should have 8 to 10 inches of roosting space, depending on the size of the bird. Make sure the roosts are thick enough to give the birds a good place to balance, and that they're free of splinters. _Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens_ is a great book that will tell you all the basics you need to know about chicken housing... not to mention feeding, health and so forth.

 

[bigzio]

Piling is common for young chicks like that. If you provide them with some light light at night everything will be ok. It is possible for them to smuther eack other, and some light will make them happy.

I would not train them to sleep in the nest boxes, they will constantly have poo in them.

When they become older, they won't need any light.

bigzio

 

[ChickenMommy]

Their roosts are up on the 2nd level and the nests boxes are on the lower level. The roosts are REAL tree limbs and are plenty thick, no slinters either.
So I should not encourage them to sleep in the nest boxes? That makes sense, I don't want poopy eggs, that's for sure!
What kind of a night should I provide? I don't want them to burn themselves on the light.

 

[bigzio]

chickenmommy, they only need enough light to be able to see. As long as they are warm enough, a simple 25watt or 40watt would be plenty. If the birds like to sleep on the floor when they are little that ok. They will move to the roost when they get older. They enjoy each others company when they are young and love to huddle together at night.

Older birds will then move to the roost, no hurry if they are happy!

bigzio

 

[ChickenMommy]

The chickens are finally roosting at night. Yeah! There was a storm last night though, and they definatly didn't like it. I felt so bad for them!