15 week old chickens still not roosting at night

[karenviolin]

We have 3, 15 week old ladies. They have consistently slept on the floor huddled together. I just assumed that they would figure it out eventually but it hasnt happened yet. Soon Im going to open up their nesting boxes which are now sectioned off with garden mesh. I'm worried they are going to prefer sleeping in them so we're trying to get them to sleep up on their roosting bar. We've tried to put them up there for the last three nights but they still dont want to go up on their own. They stay there all night when we put them up though. The roost is 18 inches off the ground and it has a "poop board" underneath it. They can easily jump up and down. They also spend a lot of time on a branch we have in the run that's much higher off the ground than the roosting bar. Any suggestions? Should we keep going at it for the next few nights or just wait till they figure it out themselves? Here is a pic from the nesting boxes of their coop when we first put them in there. You can see the roost in the back.

 

[donrae]

In the first pic, that's the roost against the far wall? How much clearance is there from the roost to the wall? And how much head room? All I can think is it's too tight of a space. Maybe not actually, but if they think it's too small, it doesn't matter if it really is or not, they won't use it. Maybe try moving the roost away from the wall some.

Or, if the run is predator proof, let them roost in the run.

 

[aart]

Duplicate thread here....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1128182/15-week-old-chickens-still-not-roosting-at-night

 

[karenviolin]

Sorry about the duplicate thread- just posting it again to try and get some help.

 

[aart]

I was wondering about how much light is in the coop at dusk....maybe they are having a hard time seeing to get up there.
Are there windows to let light in at that time?