Can't get your chickens to go up on the roost?

[Charlie Chicken]

Can't get your chickens to go up on the roost? That's the usual roost problem that is discussed on this forum. Well, I have a new one. I can't get mine to come down! That's a new one for me.

After I have had a flock for about five years or so and normal mortality has taken its course and the flock has been reduced in size I usually like to move them to our "retirement" pen. In the retirement pen they can live out the rest of their lives in comfort and they have can roam freely anywhere on the property that they please.

I had the pen all cleaned out and set up with fresh shavings on the floor. I also built them a brand new roost. Last night after dark we moved the chickens (8 Buff Orpingtons) from their old pen and set them up on the new roost. This is the same procedure we always use when moving chickens to a new pen.

When I went out there this morning I fully expected them to be out there busily checking out their new surroundings and happily scratching around in the new shavings. What I found was all 8 chickens still up there on the roost in exactly the same position that I left them last night!

I know that eventually one of them will get brave enough to jump down and then the rest will follow but it has now been several hours after sunrise and those crazy chickens are all still up there with no idea what to do next!

 

[Buster]

LOL! I have no idea about a solution for you, but that's a funny predicament! Let us know what happens.

 

[patandchickens]

Is that the same roost setup they had in their previous quarters? Otherwise I wonder whether they're nervous about missing the lower 2x4 if they try to hop down (being rather large birds)...? I wonder whether temporarily adding a couple more 2x4's next to it, to give them a larger 'landing pad', might make them happier?

Or perhaps they are just chicken

Pat

 

[palabeco]

Why not just shoo them off or take them down?

 

[Charlie Chicken]

The new roost is similar but not the same as the old one. The old roost had three steps and the new one only two. The door to outside is located in the center of the wall so I didn't have room for a third step. That extra distance between steps could very well be what is causing the hesitation but I have seen them fly down from the top level many times in the old pen.

I thought about just shooing them down or moving them by hand but decided to see what would happen if I let them figure it out themselves.

 

[Charlie Chicken]

After around 10:30am a couple of the birds finally decided to take the plunge and flew down and as expected, slowly but surely more followed. After about a half hour there were still two birds left on the roost. I decided to put an end to the foolishness and went ahead and pushed the last two off. I thought I had experienced all there was to experience in the world of chicken behavior but I guess there is always one more to add to the book.

 

[gmc]

That was a strange turn of events, Charlie. Glad it worked out. Chickens can be so amusing.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[gmc]

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