chicken not roosting

[CochinBrahmaLover]

ok so Nugget my orpington used to not be able to roost because we had some mean chickens, well now she just paces back and forth in front of the roost!

 

[SC-ChickMom]

I assume the mean chickens are gone? I would just pickup the orpington and put them on the roost at dusk. She, likely won't jump down. If she has a good night she may continue to get up there herself.

 

[devora]

If she's not in danger of being pecked, pick her up and put her on the roost.

 

[teach1rusl]

Depending on how high your roost is, you may need a chicken ladder for her. My orp girl does the same thing...it takes her some effort to get up there. She'll look and pace, pace and look. She really drags it out. But I think it's just hard for her to get her bulk up there. I do have a ladder, but she mostly uses it to get down for some reason...

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Ya thats what I thought. We were going to put a stool in there for her since its not like she has to squeeze, theres a but gap on half of it! We've just been picking her up since she sits by the bantam or the rooster.

 

[azygous]

I had three who did that - pace back and forth, trying to get up courage to leap up to the perch. It's only three feet off the ground, but for heavy breeds like Orps, Brahmas, and Cochins, it may as well be twenty feet.

I solved the problem by putting together a portable perch made out of a two to three inch tree branch screwed onto 2"x 6" blocks. They now roost on it since all they need to do is step onto it.

It took them a few nights to get the idea, and I placed them on it at first, but now they consider it their own exclusive perch.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

LOL

i had a cochin who couldnt roost in our tree when all our other chickens could so i had to take a rake and set him up there. we did the same for the brahama but she kept falling out. LOL