Chick 'bedtime' has become distressing

[thecatumbrella]

I actually set up a routine on a smart lamp (using Alexa) to ramp up at sunrise and ramp down at sunset. It seems to help.

This is what I do! Complete game changer for brooding indoors (or if I need to bring the big girls in).

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are my first chicks and I'm wondering what I am doing wrong and how I might help them settle easier?

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. With no older chickens around to show them or hinder them, most of my broods start sleeping in the roosts at night at around 10 to 12 weeks of age. I've had some start at 5 weeks, some go longer than 12 weeks, but 10 to 12 is a close average. Each brood is different and I think our set-ups have influence when also. They may play on the roosts during the day but they generally don't start sleeping up there until later.

Chickens often do not like change but they are adaptable. They will complain a lot but will soon adapt to different conditions. Patience is probably your best friend in this.

How much light do you have in that coop at night? If your chicks have never been in pure dark before that can be frightening the first time it happens to them. But they will get used to it.

You say they are moving around before they settle. That's pretty normal. The ones higher in the pecking order get to sleep where they want to. The ones lower in the pecking order may want to sleep there also but the ones higher up push them out. That happens with my adults practically every night. It can be kind of active in there until they sort that out.

I do not see any red flags in what you wrote that would cause me concern. Good luck!

 

[Shemira]

Mine puddle together at night for quite a while. They're now 14 weeks-old and just starting to get the hang of spreading out on a roost. But I had to bring them inside last night to escape the heat, and they puddled again in their old brooder over using the roost bars!

If this is happening inside at night, do they have access to a window with a natural day/night cycle? Or are you just shutting the lights off on them? Mine need a gradual dimming to settle down. It still takes about 30-60 minutes for them to go quiet. Bedtime is kind of spooky for a prey animal, and they want to make sure they're in a safe position to overnight (hence the puddling and fussing).

Oh thankyou, that is really good to know.
We do do the gradual dimming wind down

What time are you putting them to bed? In my experience, chicks like to stay up a bit later than their older sisters. But you don't have an older flock for comparison purposes, so maybe you're putting them to bed a little earlier than they'd like.

As for the "heartbreaking" sounds, re-think that. Consider that your chicks are talking to each other contentedly, in soft little cooing sounds. It's how they comfort one another and talk about their day. If you pay attention, they talk to each other this way during the day as well. I call it purring.

You're not doing anything wrong. They're just shuffling around, getting comfy, deciding who sleeps next to whom, and getting settled. My advice to you is to put them to bed, then go in the house where you can't hear them, don't worry about them. If they were distressed they would scream and flap frantically. If they're not doing that, they're fine! And as for roosting, they will do that when they'll ready.

Thankyou, thats so helpful!
I had no idea chicks liked to stay up later

 

[Shemira]

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. With no older chickens around to show them or hinder them, most of my broods start sleeping in the roosts at night at around 10 to 12 weeks of age. I've had some start at 5 weeks, some go longer than 12 weeks, but 10 to 12 is a close average. Each brood is different and I think our set-ups have influence when also. They may play on the roosts during the day but they generally don't start sleeping up there until later.

Chickens often do not like change but they are adaptable. They will complain a lot but will soon adapt to different conditions. Patience is probably your best friend in this.

How much light do you have in that coop at night? If your chicks have never been in pure dark before that can be frightening the first time it happens to them. But they will get used to it.

You say they are moving around before they settle. That's pretty normal. The ones higher in the pecking order get to sleep where they want to. The ones lower in the pecking order may want to sleep there also but the ones higher up push them out. That happens with my adults practically every night. It can be kind of active in there until they sort that out.

I do not see any red flags in what you wrote that would cause me concern. Good luck!

Thankyou so much, I feel much more comfortable now know all of that

 

[Shemira]

My latest batch took an interest in roosting around 9 weeks when they had a hen to show them. Previous batches I put a log or an old paper towel holder or a broomstick, whatever, in their brooder. Depends on my setup but something perchy as soon as two weeks for them to practice on. They will sleep in a cuddle puddle at night even in the coop for a while sometimes even if they know how to roost but eventually they roost on their own

I have never heard the term cuddle puddle until today.. I feel like that is the perfect term for what they do lol (great to know now that is totally normal

 

[C Siena]

Oh thankyou, that is really good to know.
We do do the gradual dimming wind down

Thankyou, thats so helpful!
I had no idea chicks liked to stay up later

The stinkers like to stay out longer. At 8 wks, group 1 and 10 wks, for group 2, when they were with the adults, free range all day, I would go out at dusk to lock down the coops. No way, they showed me. They were foraging, scratching, playing, everything except going to the coop! It was almost dark.

It was around 12-13 wks old, for them to decide to go in with the adults in the evening.