bizzare roosting behavior?

[stcroixusvi]

Our roost has three bars across the long way, and three short ones for support. For some reason, most of the chicks (10 weeks and large!) roost facing the wall while roosting on the short side! Here are some pics. They look awfully uncomfortable....is this normal? Should I correct this behavior?

In the first shot, you can see their backs bent over, second is the side facing the poop-scrape-out door with their heads bent into the door, and the third is taken from the pop door on the other side of the coop.

 

[bustermommy]

Mine all huddle into 12 inches of the roost, leaving the other 3 feet empty. They are practically on top of each other. I think they're just stupid.

Must make sense to them though.

 

[ddmiddle7]

LOL they look comfortable to me....mine do the same thing. I gave them 6 feet worth of roost space and 7 of them squish into about 2 feet of space...most of that being on the supports for the actual roost...just like yours are doing. I think that when they get bigger they will spread out more and start using the actual roost.

But what do I know I have only had chickens for about 4 months now....maybe someone with more experience can give you some more advice.

BTW you are totally getting the stink eye....is she telling "you leave me alone it's bedtime" LOL

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, NO! Your chicks are all roosting WRONG! We can't have THAT, now, can we?!!?!

It's not wrong to them.... As they mature, they will find what works best for them, where to arrange themselves as they feel comfortable.

Yah, it's bizarre, but all it really does is offend our sensibilities, right? Let 'em roost anywhich way they wanna.

 

[centrarchid]

OP, none of the birds photographed are asleep. When they do they shall look as follows.

Heads will be tucked under wing so having front of body against wall not a problem. If birds get much larger, then roost pole may need to be moved and inch or too farther from wall.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

Mine do the same. They have a 5 foot bar, then two 2ft side bars. They only sleep on the 2 foot side bars (12 of them, and they even split it 6 and 6!) and leave the 5 foot bar open. Sometimes they are so tightly packed that one sits, one stands, one sits, one stands to make room. LOL

Crazy birds.

 

[db]

I have 26 chickens all pullets, they are 21 weeks old and are laying. Well I get about 8 eggs on a good day. I have 5 leghorn, 4 rhode island reds, 6 barred rocks, 6 australopes and 5 americaunas. They move to one corner of the coop at night. My husband built 12 laying boxes with entry boards about 3" wide and then attached below, are roosts. My girls huddle below the roosts, on the roosts and now two in the nesting boxes all in one corner. That whole corner is one huge poop mess in the AM ,funny none of the birds are dirtied on. The girls in the nest of course make a mess. These girls are big now and still huddling. Tonight I removed the six boxes off the wall leaving only the roosts in that area. Maybe they will separate. My other problem is the leghorns claim the nests and do not want any of the other girls to lay in certain boxes. Each morning the leghorns take all the straw out of the boxes if I put more in they remove it. I also have a leghorn trying to brood she even looks in boxes to see if there is an egg to lay on!!! Today I removed one white egg (hers) and a barred rock egg from under her!! The barred and leghorn do try to get in a box together. Like I said my americaunas have to wait until allowed in, really and the other day my one girl ended up standing on the coop floor and popped out a green egg on the floor. My reds are really not laying yet I found only two of there eggs outside one in the dirt and one on a board below there outside roost, cracked. i was wondering if there is a chicken pshyc out there !!!!

 

[stcroixusvi]

The politics and antics of chickens rival Washington DC!

Thanks for all your experiences and photo! (The sleeping birds look lovely! What a beautiful shot

) I will not worry for the moment. On the other hand, this is what I saw last night - Amy all by herself

:

 

[cmom]

I think most birds will do that. My birds do it too. There is plenty of roosts but they all want the same spots and they will all crowd into one area of the roosts and not one bird will be in another area. Go figure???

These are some of my youngsters.

And these are some of my older birds in their coop.

 

[rakers]

On a few occasions I've noticed one of my hens literally roosting on top of another hen.

One night I looked in after hearing a scuffle and saw my buff orpington sitting on top of my smaller fayoumi - while they were both standing on the same roost. I couldn't help but laugh. Although I prefer to let them do their own thing, in this case I decided to separate them. As soon as I reached in they moved and all four of my hens got new spots. When I checked back in on them about 30 minutes later, the buff was right back on top of the fayoumi! I'll take a picture next time.

Anyone else observe this behavior?