Bed Time

you know how important that "pillow talk" is. They'll stop when they stop

 

I have noticed my 2 girls lay down togther and share a few more quiet chirps before falling off to sleep. They are such great friends. At only 2 weeks old, im keeping my fingers crossed that they are both girls. Im not able to keep a rooster. i would hate to separate them.

 

That's when mine head into the coop. I'm surprised they go so early, but I guess they like to be able to see where they are going and get all settled in before full darkness. In general, mine will chatter once they're in the coop until it's just about completely dark. After that, silence.

 

My chicks are now 18 wks old. At about 7:30 they gather around the chix door, waiting for me to come shooo them in. I have a stick with a Black piece of shade cloth tacked on the end. I wave it and they all jump thru the door. You can shout, wave your arms ,beat on the pen and they just stand there. But, just wave that black rag and off they go straight thru the door and to the feeder in the coop to have a meal before retiring....same thing every night..
However new coop is ready, tractor is getting too small, so we'll see it things change.

 

I'm always amazed how my birds will chill out, eat a little, have a few drinks and just chat in their run. And then without any fuss, they all get up, climb the plank and are in the coop. They then go on for what seems like forever jockeying for the best spot to sleep. It's pretty obnoxious, actually. My coop is not very big at all, and they never use the roost but gather around the hole in the floor that leads to thie run downstairs. I imagine that will change come winter!

 

Quote:Oh my! I hear you! We just put our chickens out in their new house three days ago. I was so happy that we now had plenty of appropriate roosting poles. Well...Out of 11 chickens that are currently in the house, 5 of them finally got on the roosting poles. Pecked each other and squawked for about 15 minutes. The others, all piled up in the nesting boxes. Jump in, jump out, squawk, pile on top of each other. And the racket goes on. Probably takes them about 1/2 hour to settle down. Crazy birds!

 

I have 2 flocks in one. We just built a shared run for them this spring.

The Big Girls flock, who had never been outside their coop in a year (their whole life), tends to stay out until almost full dark.
The New crew who were babies this spring, put themselves to bed before it is even dark. But I also think they like pretending they are going to get the 'prime' roosting spot...that is, until the Big Girls come to bed!

I didn't think the Big Girls would ever learn to put themselves to bed, but that was because I wanted them to go to bed at twilight, and they weren't ready until about 15-20 minutes later. Little night owls! Now, I just wait them out, and go close the coop door for the night, once they have sorted themselves out.

 

Quote:My girls do the EXACT same thing....down to the T!

 

Mine go in at 8:30 ish every night, have a snack and a drink, then fight it out for the best roost spot. When I go out to check on them later some of them are still standing on the roost but I think they might just hear me coming and get up.