Chickens afraid of roosting heights?

[Barredhen]

I have 25-26 week old pullets, none of which will roost. They sleep huddled in a messy ball on the floor in the corner. I am thinking they should begin to lay anytime and that they really need to find their way up to the nest boxes and roosts! If I put them up there they FREAK out. They will not even look around for a minute, they step high and awkward like being up high is very concerning and dive off the ledge.
We have a 8' board gently sloping up to a 2' "platform" so they could WALK up if they'd like and then a row of laying boxes around 3' high, maybe a little higher, and places to sit above them too.
These hens will not even stay on the 2' high spot, I put treats and things up there, no deal. They all seem terrified of heights. Could they have nesting boxes maybe 6" off the ground or will this is just forever embed the issue? They seem fairly set in their ways. They also wont even walk on the board, or jump over it etc... they just go around it.

 

[DobieLover]

I have 25-26 week old pullets, none of which will roost. They sleep huddled in a messy ball on the floor in the corner. I am thinking they should begin to lay anytime and that they really need to find their way up to the nest boxes and roosts! If I put them up there they FREAK out. They will not even look around for a minute, they step high and awkward like being up high is very concerning and dive off the ledge.
We have a 8' board gently sloping up to a 2' "platform" so they could WALK up if they'd like and then a row of laying boxes around 3' high, maybe a little higher, and places to sit above them too.
These hens will not even stay on the 2' high spot, I put treats and things up there, no deal. They all seem terrified of heights. Could they have nesting boxes maybe 6" off the ground or will this is just forever embed the issue? They seem fairly set in their ways. They also wont even walk on the board, or jump over it etc... they just go around it.

Can you post some pictures? That will help.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

My chickens took some time. They did that ball thing in the corner like yours and about 3 weeks later they finally started doing experiments and if one chickens gets on top of the roost all of them do out of curiosity

 

[springvalley123]

The board that serves as a ramp up to the roost could be a problem. I've always used big blocks to provide a boost, so they can hop onto the roosts. Even when my leghorns were young, they'd hop from the ground onto a tree branch, and also hopped onto their roosts. Also, having something above the roosts (the 3-ft high nest boxes) might be making them feel the roost is not safe. I have nest boxes with a floor about a foot high, and a row above them, that they'll use a brick to hop up into. (That was the setup for my naked neck (dual purpose) birds. NOw I have a slopped roof to keep them from using the top of the box as a roost. THey'll naturally roost as high as possible, but they hop onto the roost--apparently from what you're describing, anything that you can walk onto doesn't count as a roost.

 

[WahlFamilyFarm]

I got fed up trying to get dozen hens to do as I wanted... so I watched for the one whom seemed to be the leader and trained her... she trained the rest

 

[Barredhen]

 

[centrarchid]

Put a night light in with low wattage so it illuminates intended roost after primary light source goes down for day/

 

[Barredhen]

I will try replacing the ramp with blocks and I will try a light up there...
They used to have a log that they never really spent time on. They do not like to be off the floor. One really acts like she has sight issues and I wonder if the others are afraid because of her?
All of our past flocks have enjoyed sleeping up on top of the laying boxes!

 

[Peepsi]

The ramp is just a smooth ramp..nothing for them to grip while walking up it. Also, they are in their bare feet. Walking up a wood ramp with no grip holds is a great way to get splinters in their feet. All the chicken ramps I've seen look like this: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/53/aa/f1/53aaf156a5fa6766e631d1a4e135e7f5.jpg

Plus, the nesting boxes don't have an actual perch in front of them....they just have a tiny ledge that looks precarious. I don't have the mind of a chicken, but if I were a chicken, I don't think I'd risk jumping up there, because there is nothing to grip once I got up there.

I could be totally wrong, but those are my thoughts looking at the photo.

 

[Barredhen]

Right. Well, we could make little grip holds easy enough too. And see if that helps. Though ultimately, they should be able to get themselves onto the ledge that the board leads to, without a board! Which has treats on it that noone will hang around and eat. It seems odd to me that they wont even go up there. Its not high and it is plenty wide. That was where I set previous flocks food entirely, so that it stayed clean. They never protested. I can see if these did not like the nesting box configuration I suppose. Im not sure how to make it un-precarious besides maybe a wider ledge? Its a 8" ledge, previous flocks have flown directly up to that ledge in front of the nesting boxes or to the top above. They always preferred to sleep on the top above so we took "roost bars" down at some point because they were never used. I suppose I'd rather sit on a 14" box in clean shavings too. I could put a bar in front of the boxes to see if these prefer a bar and do not like the ledge, but I feel if they wont use a log, a ramp or a 2' high "stoop" that a teeny roost way in the air is going to be out of their question.

I still wonder about just lowering everything. BUT through the hole near the floor you see in the photo the have a second room, which is a nesting box only 1' off the ground and they will not use that room at all - never go in it. And I can count on one hand how many times these chickens have gone outside if I'm not calling them out. They really just sit in that corner they're in in the picture. So maybe lowering it will do nothing more than make them choose a new corner. Hmm.