Roosting

[Momto3]

So my 13wk old chicks are not roosting on their own. I have been putting them on the roost every night now for the past week. So I thought for sure they would be roosting when I check on them the next night. Nope. They are all huddled in their favorite corner. When will they roost on their own? I gave my MIL 3 of my chickens an they roost on their own. Yet their coop is much smaller then mine, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Please tell me my chicks will roost on their own an soon.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My brooder raised chicks start roosting around 10 to 12 weeks. Others have posted that theirs start roosting earlier or later. They are each individuals and each flock has its own dynamics. I personally don't worry about it. When their instunct to roost kicks in, they will start roosting. I don't know what triggers that instinct. When I have a broody raise chicks, she usually starts them roosting around 4 weeks of age.

I suspect that some night, a few will leave that comforting group huddle on the floor and sleep on the roost. Within a couple of nights, all will be roosting. But when that happens for yours, I don't know.

 

[Kimmlind]

I have a similar question. How high should the roost be?? Mine just went into their new coop with tons more room, an inside coop and an outside run. The fist night I put them inside but they didn't roost. The 2nd night they stayed outside all huddled in a corner of the run...I have a 1x2 across the back of the inside, maybe 3 feet off the ground. Too high? I have 6 girls. Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[chicmom]

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Hello! I think that 3ft off the ground is fine. The behavior you describe is very typical for chicks just going to the coop. Usually, my new chicks huddle in a corner of the run and sort of peep like they're distressed when it starts getting dark. So I go out, scoop them up and put them into the coop, shutting them in. (I wait until it's kinda dark so they don't run from me.) They will do this for about a week, then one evening, you'll go outside and be surprised that they all went inside on their own!

Same thing with roosting.....They will huddle inside the coop on the floor until they start getting bigger, and then one day you'll notice that they're roosting. Putting them on the roost doesn't help much in my experience. They would just fly off and huddle in their corner. Roosting is done when they feel like they're ready.

Hope this helps!
Sharon

 

[tball]

mine are 5 weeks and have been out 1 week they still seem to make some panic like chirps at dusk and all stay on ground in corner. Hope they grow out of that

 

[JodyJo]

I have 8 week olds that have been roosting for some time now. I have a roost with several tiers, made out of trees limbs, I also laid a few large branches inside when they were young to encourage them to jump up to the roost, not sure if that helped, but now a few of them hop all the way up to the nesting boxes and check out the coop from on high.

 

[Ridgerunner]

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