Any suggestions to encourage sleeping on the roosts?

[iheartnh]

Our coop is a converted play house, and our birds are about 14 weeks old. We have more than adequate roost space - enough for 15 birds, and we only have 9 birds.

Here is my problem - instead of bedding down for the night on the roosts, the birds are opting to pile onto the "dam" we put right inside the coop door, to keep the litter from falling out every time we open it. I have to enter the coop at dusk, to shut their door to their yard (design flaw on our part).

For the past week, I've been waiting for the evening when I go out, open the door, and chickens spill out all over the place and/or I injure one of them on my way back out by shutting the door on a wing/leg/neck. And tonight was the night - I opened the door, and 3 of them hopped out My instinct was to quickly close the door to stop the tide, and I nearly squished one. And then I had to quietly chase down 3 chickens in near-darkness, all the while hoping my dog didn't notice what was going on.

I have tried removing the ladies from the dam and placing them on the roosts, but they get irate and hop right off and pile back on the dam. I also tried creating a dam-like set up away from the door, and have tried relocating them to that, and they do the same thing - squak and head back to the doorway.

So - any suggestions? They are comfortable on the roosts and can access them on their own - on rainy days, they usually hang out on the roosts. It's just at night they all crowd in together at the doorway.

 

[Judy]

Off hand, it sounds like you need a window next to the roost so they can see out.

 

[iheartnh]

Off hand, it sounds like you need a window next to the roost so they can see out.

There are windows on either side of the roost. There is a window in the door, but it's up too high for them to see out of it when they roost there.

 

[soggycrunchy]

Same here. They pile up right where we take out the run and replace it with a board. I was wondering if the breeze from the crack feels good to them. There is a huge window that covers a wall and is open-you would think they would be up against that. So odd. Mine are 11 wks old.

 

[iheartnh]

I solved it by basically making it impossible for them to roost on the door dam - I put vertical strips of duct tape across the bottom of the door opening, like a ladder, so they couldn't get to where they wanted to be. Pain in the butt for me, but it got the job done. The first night, I'm pretty sure they were swearing at me as they huddled on the floor in the center of the coop. The second night, they duked it out for HOURS over who got to sleep on the top roost, and who got to sleep next to each other. The past couple of nights, there hasn't been any drama and they are sleeping on the roosts, so problem solved!