Getting pullets to sleep on the roosting bar?

[Sylviaanne]

This maybe an old thread but I have a question. Don't the birds have enough sense to come out of the coop if it is too hot? Thanks, Sylvia

 

[TERRY4]

This maybe an old thread but I have a question. Don't the birds have enough sense to come out of the coop if it is too hot? Thanks, Sylvia

Maybe explain a bit more so we know what to say. Are they staying in when it's hot IN the coop? Do they normally come out?

 

[Sylviaanne]

Maybe explain a bit more so we know what to say. Are they staying in when it's hot IN the coop? Do they normally come out?

Oh, I am sorry. I don't know which post it was but the owner was saying they had to drive their chickens out of the coop and close them out during the day because it was too hot for them. It made me think that they don't have sense enough to get out of the coop when it gets hot and that they may die without realizing that all they had to do was go outside. She said it was like 20 degrees cooler outside.

I have heard that chickens don't have the sense to go in out of the rain so I was wondering if they don't have the sense to go where it is cooler. BTW, I have never personally seen or directly talked to someone who knew of a chicken drowning in the rain. Sylvia

 

[Dee Dee 2]

I find the fact that they don't want to come out of the coop at all confusing ? Mine almost break the door down wanting out. And YES the chickens can definately die in a hot coop. I doubt there is water in the coop itself. Something needs to be changed but not knowing situation can't say what.

 

[Sylviaanne]

No, this isn't my chickens doing this. Mine don't like to be in the coop at all, day or night. Well, except when I go in the front part to get them some food.

This question is from a post, oh say, in the first 5 pages somewhere. It just concerned me that it could happen. Sylvia

 

[jbusby86]

For some reason my girls sleep on the floor instead of the roost

 

[Carolei]

My girls are almost 16 weeks old and were still sleeping in a pile on the floor. I was trying to wait them out, assuming that eventually they would sleep on the roost. Well last night I finally gave up and went out after dark and put them on the roost. I was worried they would freak out, but it was easy and they seemed fine with it. I could tell they slept there all night because there was a line of poop on the poop board. Yay! Tonight I went out again and there was no one on the floor, although three were sleeping on the poop board instead of the roost. I was able to move two of them up onto the roost, but the third was behind another bird and I would have had to disturb that one to move the other. Anyway, this feels like a huge success to get them up off the floor! They had a little roost in their brooder that they liked to sit on during the day and they have roosts out in the run. They sit on the roosts on and off during the day, but they always slept on the floor until last night. I'm surprised by how easy it was to get them to change! I hope it lasts!

 

[tebmsu97]

Ours are 13-14 weeks old now. Every night they go to sleep in a pile in the corner of the yard, we pick them up and put them in the coop on the roosting bar. They stay on the bar all night and we have even seen them walk up the ramp to the bar if we just put them on the coop floor (although the first two didn't scoot over enough and the other four just piled up in the corner of the coop), but they show no interest at all in going into the coop on their own. Hope they figure this out soon, but our daughter does love the evening ritual of putting her chickens to bed.

 

[pilotnbr1]

This maybe an old thread but I have a question. Don't the birds have enough sense to come out of the coop if it is too hot? Thanks, Sylvia

Assuming night and the dark I would imagine they would be afraid to relocate unless its really well lit. I am a relative newbie tho, with 4 Cream Legbars at 10 weeks old.

Searched for this thread because of my own issues-
I have seen my chicks terrified of the dark. Initially they did not know what to do when it got dark and would hang out in the secure run. It would get dark and they would get scared, wandering around in the run chirping really loud. So fast forward they have a night light inside the coop, come in at dusk, and crowd the light which is near their roost bar. If they are removed away from the night light it seems they have terrible night vision- issues in dim light with depth perception where they aren't even sure how high they are off the floor of the coop (only a foot and a half) and stumble to the floor.

I have had issues with them trying to get up into the eves of their coop, on top of the watering system, and even once trying to balance on an extension cord. All of these things are higher than the roost bar and I have had to systematically block them off. Their instinct to find the highest point possible is pretty strong. You would think I am torturing them to sleep on their 2.5 inch wide, 20 inch high (and higher than blocked of nest boxes) roost bar...

 

[giannini]

Hi pilotnbr1. I have read that chickens are blind in the dark. That's why they stay on the floor if they fall off the roost in the night. I've also read of them breaking legs when they fall from a high roost. I do know that I have two cherry branches for roosts. They are also about 2.5 inches wide. The chickens do all roost on the higher branch. Seems like a natural instinct to avoid predators. I have portable nest boxes so I was able to keep them out of the coop until one of the girls started turning red, and her comb, and wattles started growing. Then I only put one box in until a few more had started "the change". They never sleep in there now. Only go in there to lay their eggs.