Black Sexlinks roosting on top of coop at night

[VCrouch]

Back in the summer our BO went broody so we acquired some fertilized eggs for her to hatch out. We ended up with 2 baby black sexlinks. When they were little all was fine, but now that they are getting older (12 weeks) I'm noticing some pecking order issues which I know will resolve sooner or later. But tonight I noticed the 2 new chicks were roosting on top of the coop (we have a A frame style) and not going in to roost. I have been noticing some black feathers in the coop but thougt that was due to pecking order. Any ideas what to do?

For tonight I put the dog crate out for them to have some shelter since it is getting cool at night now.

 

[Ema]

I ordered myself some BSL's this spring, BIG BIG mistake, they are the black sheep of chickens, at least in my eyes they are, pretty to look at but geez they just can't seem to get along with anyone but themselves.

they are smaller then the rest of my other hens but every time they are a big squabble the BSL's are involved......with this said I find that lately they try to mind their own business and avoid conflict by running away or staying away from the other hens, my BSL's stick together I have as of yet to find them foraging with another hen of different breed, they forage, sleep and rest together.

first off chickens will roost at the highest place possible they can find. But they could be trying to avoid conflict with the other chickens if they are being attacked. finding feathers on the ground when they should not be there could mean there is trouble in the hen house.

I know I have to separate mine from the rest of the flock cause they are always fighting, but I have an available coop and I have 13 BSL's so I have the option, something I guess you might not, and if that is the case, the next best thing is to find the hen or hens that are doing the picking and knock them off their game. This is done by catching the bird in the act and then placing the bird in a solitary cage for a day or two and then back in with the group, if the fighting continues, do it again but a day longer, its all in the retraining of the flock, eventually they get the idea.

If fighting is not an issue, then you must retrain the birds on where they should be roosting. this is done by locking the birds inside their coop for several days, like 3 or 4, sometimes a week. I had to do this very thing with my first flock when they would not go back inside to roost!! I kept mine in for 4 days and they got the idea rather quick and then I allowed them to go back outside, then I had to redo this very thing when hey decided they rather lay eggs out in the run, lol. I now find all my hens on their roost at 9pm every night and all my eggs in the nesting boxes by 7 am :-D

Ema