Bedtime routines

[SASnCoBYC]

Anyone else as fascinated and entertained by your young chicks bedtime routine as I am? After a solid 45 minutes of shuffling from roosts to the food bowl, they are finally settled and quiet. This is our third night of opting for a perch rather than the pile in the corner of the cage. The brahma on the top far right still cries and tries to convince someone to stay on the floor with her, but she finally goes up once everyone else convinces her roosting is the place to be. The first night she knocked half her sisters off trying to squeeze underneath. Seriously, I find them more entertaining than anything on tv or netflix these days.

 

[Chookchicken]

They are so cute!!! I love the ones that try to squeeze their way under others.
Having chick/ens is way more entertaining then watching tv. Reading about other peoples chicken story’s is also very entertaining.

 

[aart]

Anyone else as fascinated and entertained by your young chicks bedtime routine as I am?

Yes, it can be fascinating.
Even more so as they age, it can be the most contentious time of the day.
...and even more so when you've got new birds with adults,
....and even more so when you have two age groups of youngsters with the adults.

I call it the RoostTimeRumble.

 

[SLA]

So cute! When our chicks were in the brooder, we gradually lowered the lights and move our attention to the “room” with the radiant heater. They would scamper through the door and settle into the perch and shavings, nestling, shoving, scooting and finally ready to sleep. Now, at 11 weeks, 5 weeks in the coop and run, we let them range in our yard for an hour or so before sunset (lots of hawks, so we need to supervise). We tried to get them back into the run when we wanted to go inside with some success and some fails. Thus, we decided to just wait it out. Literally 4 minutes before the official sunset, they ran into the run, took a few bites of food and drinks of water, then went up the ramp into the coop. This has happened, without fail, the past week. After entering the coop the same shuffling and fussing ensues. Then calm.

 

[vantain]

RoostTimeRumble

Yep....very entertaining, and it never stops. Every night.......

 

[SASnCoBYC]

So cute! When our chicks were in the brooder, we gradually lowered the lights and move our attention to the “room” with the radiant heater. They would scamper through the door and settle into the perch and shavings, nestling, shoving, scooting and finally ready to sleep. Now, at 11 weeks, 5 weeks in the coop and run, we let them range in our yard for an hour or so before sunset (lots of hawks, so we need to supervise). We tried to get them back into the run when we wanted to go inside with some success and some fails. Thus, we decided to just wait it out. Literally 4 minutes before the official sunset, they ran into the run, took a few bites of food and drinks of water, then went up the ramp into the coop. This has happened, without fail, the past week. After entering the coop the same shuffling and fussing ensues. Then calm.

I too did not like having the heat lamp on my babies all the time and used a radiant room space heater after about a week. We were brooding in the room I use to work from home. Was so nice working and being able to listen to them cheeping all day. Now that it's warmed up the 11 6-weekers are on their 2nd week completely occupying the run and coop. I have 6 3-weekers that come back in to the house at night. Been putting them out in the run in a dog play yard this week so everyone can get used to each other. The littles can go out and mingle, but they usually get chased back in to their space by the big girls.

The second day after the big girls went out to the coop/run we had snow and so I kept them in the coop the whole day. Worked out because the next day after all day in the run, at sunset they all put themselves to bed on their own and they've been doing it ever since. I haven't been brave enough to let them roam our yard outside the run yet. The yard isn't fenced and just last night we had to chase a stray cat away from the run. Would like to give them another month before we venture that. Although, I don't think there is going to be much grass left in our 19x10 run in a month, haha!

I have watched their bedtime shuffle in the coop a couple times and they try to pile on to a 2 ft section of roost that we added in the corner. About 7 can squeeze on there, for now, the other 4 sleep directly underneath on the main roost bar. The one brahma still tries to crawl under everyone else so they all get knocked off a couple times before she settles. Then one of the cinnamon queens always waits to last and jumps on top of everyone. LOL! Thanks for sharing! Your chicks are a bit ahead of mine, so kinda gives me a glimpse of what to expect.

 

[SLA]

I too did not like having the heat lamp on my babies all the time and used a radiant room space heater after about a week. We were brooding in the room I use to work from home. Was so nice working and being able to listen to them cheeping all day. Now that it's warmed up the 11 6-weekers are on their 2nd week completely occupying the run and coop. I have 6 3-weekers that come back in to the house at night. Been putting them out in the run in a dog play yard this week so everyone can get used to each other. The littles can go out and mingle, but they usually get chased back in to their space by the big girls.

The second day after the big girls went out to the coop/run we had snow and so I kept them in the coop the whole day. Worked out because the next day after all day in the run, at sunset they all put themselves to bed on their own and they've been doing it ever since. I haven't been brave enough to let them roam our yard outside the run yet. The yard isn't fenced and just last night we had to chase a stray cat away from the run. Would like to give them another month before we venture that. Although, I don't think there is going to be much grass left in our 19x10 run in a month, haha!

I have watched their bedtime shuffle in the coop a couple times and they try to pile on to a 2 ft section of roost that we added in the corner. About 7 can squeeze on there, for now, the other 4 sleep directly underneath on the main roost bar. The one brahma still tries to crawl under everyone else so they all get knocked off a couple times before she settles. Then one of the cinnamon queens always waits to last and jumps on top of everyone. LOL! Thanks for sharing! Your chicks are a bit ahead of mine, so kinda gives me a glimpse of what to expect.

We have a great yard for ranging, but we, too, see feral cats, coyotes and hawks. We let them out for an hour before sunset, but stand among them to scare off any predators. They love it and wish I could do it more but I’d feel horrible if something happened to the .