Will my chickens ever learn to roost?!

[kurui]

I have three outdoor hens who learnt how to do it- but my 7 week old babies (still inside at nights) seem to prefer flopping out, legs all over the place, sometimes sleeping on top of each other. They do this during the day when they're outside in between bouts of beetle hunting and running away from terrifying things like butterflies and their own molted feathers when caught by a breeze, and once they're in, they do it on my lap/the (chickenproofed corner of) the sofa/their bedding once they're shut up in the brooder at night. They have a perch in the brooder and use it sometimes, but never for very long. Are they just too young to have worked it out, or are my babies just... cute but stupid?

 

[chicken-whisperer]

They do sound cute , Several guesses #1 slow to mature #2 to big of perch or even the breed. When I had Silkies they did not like to perch they flopped a lot.

 

[SkylineFarms]

I think it just depends. Mine don't usually start roosting until 12-14 weeks old but then again I have raised a batch that didn't start roosting until 5 months old. The silkies I used to have never learned to roost, even as adults.

 

[RASS]

I had 4 of my 9 who started roosting on rafters in barn right above my lawn mower etc. I started chasing them out after they all roosted and they would fly down and enter coop to roost like they should; after about 5 days of this they took the hint and now roost in coop with the rest of the flock.

I can relate to the "cute bit stupid" comment. They are egg laying machines however but I cannot get them to use the nest boxes. Still working on that.

Good luck

RASS

 

[kurui]

My baby roo wants to know if preferring to sit on my arm rather than my lap counts as perching.

I'm glad to know my babies aren't completely abnormal- I kind of love watching their floppy sprawl naps but I was a little worried about them choosing to sleep that way at night too!