Silly hen not roosting

[Chickenlady1998]

Hi! All of my chickens are roughly 12 weeks old. Some may be closer to 13. We moved them out to the coop and they did great, except they all piled in the corner for the first little bit, which I suspect was due to it being a little cold out. Now, they all sleep on the roosts except for one. My girl Vada. She is bigger than the rest besides one other that looks identical to her. I have 3 seperate height roost bars. She has roosted before, but now just likes to sleep in the nesting box. I’ve checked for mites and any sign of her being bullied, but nothing. Could she be close to laying and preparing? Could she already be broody? She leave the nest all during the day to be in the run. I’m at a loss.

 

[Maddcatter]

What kind of nesting box do you have? Birds roost, in part because their wild counterparts found trees and bushes to be better hiding spots than being in the open. She might just feel more comfortable in a "bush" than a "tree"?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

What breed is she? Twelve weeks seems a bit young for hormonal changes, most pullets go into lay closer to 16 weeks or later. What does her comb look like? If it's still pale pink, she's not laying. Watch for it to turn red and, depending on her breed, it could enlarge. How high up are the roosts? Are they crowded? Is she being bullied off of them? Sneak out there of an evening and observe quietly, see what the flock dynamics are. Maybe she's at the bottom of the pecking order and nobody will let her sit by them.

Finally, give her a good physical check-up. Is she physically able to get up on the roost? Does she have soreness or weakness in a foot or a leg joint? Does she have mites, making her weak? Can she see okay? Feel her underside. Can you feel her breastbone or keel? Is it sharp and pointed, indicating she's underfed, weak because she's not getting enough to eat? That could also be a sign she's being bullied away from the food. Feel her crop at bedtime. Is it full? It should be. Check it again in the morning before she has a chance to eat or drink. If she's healthy it should be flat and empty. Good luck.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would block off the nests for now to force her out of them.

Any photos of your roost set up? How many linear ft of roost do you have and how many birds?

 

[aart]

I would block off the nests for now to force her out of them.

Any photos of your roost set up? How many linear ft of roost do you have and how many birds?

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[DobieLover]

Could she be close to laying and preparing?

They don't stay in the nest box at night when coming into lay.

Could she already be broody?

She could be but she's not because of this:

She leave the nest all during the day to be in the run.

They also did not huddle up on the floor because they were cold. They were nervous and no one has ever shown them how to roost. The instinct kicks in pretty quickly though.

It sounds like you may be short on roost space and she is the low pullet on the totem pole. As @rosemarythyme and @aart have suggested, please post pictures of the interior of your coop with dimensions, linear feet of roost and number of birds housed.

 

[morsekathan]

I have several hens who are perfectly ok who prefer the nest box to roosting. I personally wish they would roost as the nest box gets pretty poopy, but turns out I'm not in charge in the hen house! If I were, everyone would be much better behaved

 

[Alderen]

You may have gotten this sorted out by now but I thought I'd share.

I have a friend whose flock started out roosting on the floor. She had a nice big walk-in coop with roosting bars in one corner. When her chicks were younger - probably until they really started to lay (around 5-6 months) they would all sleep gathered together on the floor next to the door. She even tried going in several evenings and placing one or two on the roosting bars. She decided to just let them do what they felt comfortable doing. Once they started to lay, they started using the roosting bars. Not sure what changed for them - maybe hormones - but she never had any problems with them not using the roosting bars after that. Maybe just give them time. If they're safe in the coop, let them figure it out.

When we built our new coop, the first night I placed 1 chicken on the bars and that's all it took for the other chicks. I did have to add a light that stays on for about 1 hour after sundown to give some light for the chickens to be able to see and get settled on the roost bars.