13 week olds sleep in a pile! ??

[CANDLE98]

My 13 week old chicks do not roost, they all sleep in a pile in the corner behind our feeder. Is this okay for them to do? There are 14 of them and two of them are silkies, I guess they just all love each other!

 

[sherrydeanne]

What size/type/height roost do you have?

 

[walkswithdog]

Or they think it's too cool in the room/brooder you have them in to perch. Have they ever perched/roosted? What's their temp? They should have adapted but some birds adapt more slowly.

 

[txchickie]

I have 14 bantams that are nearly a year old that prefered to do this for at LEAST 5 months

They were not too cold, loved their roost, etc.....they just all would pile randomly in a corner to sleep. Drove me NUTS! They did quit though, after I started going out after dark and picking them up and putting them on a roost or in a tree. It took several nights of moving them all, though.

 

[CANDLE98]

So I am going to have to go out after dark and move them? Nah I think I will let them figure it out. They climb all over the roost during the day, I guess they just really love each other!

 

[cmom]

Can you post some pics?

 

[CANDLE98]

Yeah I will take some pictures tonight. I think it's really funny!

 

[Sequin]

My 1yr old australorp hens have never truly roosted. They still don't. The roost is at the right height and above the nest boxes. But they prefer to sleep together, at the door of their coop no-less. Silly birds. But hey, it works for them and they are happy and healthy. So I figure it doesn't really matter that much how they prefer to sleep, so long as they are not sick or uncomfortable.

 

[Ducklove334]

our five MONTH old NN's and D'anver to this day DO NOT know how to use the roosts, they either sleep behind the coop door like they have since they were on the very bottom of the pecking order as younger birds, or UNDER the roosts in a pile on the floor.

they will play on the perches outside in the pen, but they still won't sleep on them

 

[jipjip]

When I first got chickens I made a beautiful coop just like all the books recommended with draft free perching area but guess what? They nearly all prefer perching in the trees unless it is raining really hard. So much for draft-free...

The one silky that we did have did not know how to perch and I would find her asleep by herself on the ground outside under a tree.

I'd love to see a photo of yours all together.