Apparent roosting tendencies?

[BackyardBonnie]

I have four chicks which are approx. 5 weeks old. I have started to turn their light off at night in the last week. Tonight I noticed something new. I went to look in on them about half an hour after I had turned out their light and they had knocked their waterer off of the blocks it was sitting on and all four of them are huddled together on top of the blocks in the corner of the bin. There have been a few mornings when they've knocked their food over too overnight... Both their food and water are up on blocks to keep the pine shavings out of them.

Are they gravitating towards those spots because they are higher up and that is their natural tendency?

We were hoping to have their coop done by now and have moved them outside, but with the weather we're having (4 inches of snow this week) we probably won't have it functional until later next week. There's obviously going to be roosting perches in the coop.

 

[Judy]

A lot of people put some sort of roost or shelf in the brooder, and a lot of chicks seem to enjoy using it. It doesn't have to be tall. They might have gotten a bit excited by the absence of light because it's something new, and knocked things over because of this. they should get used to the darkness very soon.

 

[BackyardBonnie]

Well, they knocked their water over again tonight and last night. After cleaning out the brooder again, I took their waterer out. Surely they can handle not having water overnight, right?

 

[Chickens R Us]

They don't eat or drink at night so as long as it's dark they will be fine.

 

[BackyardBonnie]

They survived the night without water, but they rushed right over when I put in back in this morning!

They were huddled all together on the blocks where the waterer had been last I checked on them last night.

Chicks are funny!