Sleeping on roost bars

[Bruins]

I put my seven 8 week old chicks in their coop this weekend . I have the roost bar ( it is 8 feet long) in front of the windows and during the day I see them sitting on the roost bad in front of the windows looking out . But at night they they sleep on the roost bar but all crammed into one 3 foot space in the corner without the window.

It this because sleeping in the coop is new , will they not want to sleep in front of the windows at night ?
Will they always want to cram into the corners without the windows to sleep ?

 

[Judy]

It may feel too cool or drafty for them at night. However, in the heat of summer, what feels like a draft now will no doubt feel like a refreshing breeze then.

 

[Blooie]

Judy is right. It might be drafty up there. But I've also found that at first every single batch of chicks I've ever raised has done the same thing - snuggling in a pile of feathers and beaks in a corner somewhere, despite knowing where the roosts and how to use them. That's what they've been doing for the past several weeks and they see no reason to change it just because we want them to leave a cuddly pile of comfort and sleep sitting on a hard stick!

At first I took the advice of people smarter than I am and they said to go out after dark and put them up on the roosts. They said I'd have to do that a few times until they learned. Well, they didn't learn, and I was out there freezing my hiney off trying to teach them. I'd put one on, two would jump off. And so it went.....

But then a wise chicken friend said, "They'll roost when they're ready." So I left them alone, and lo and behold, they did! One night I went out to lock up and a couple were roosting. Most were still on the floor. A few nights later and they were all up there, and they figured it out all by themselves! Good thing, because I'm all done trying to teach them to be chickens!

 

[Chickenshoe]

What Blooie said........youngsters always get in a pile someplace,,keeping warm as much as flock bonding.....as they get older they will spread out....