Chickens not roosting at night

[Bbmkr3]

New chicken tender, and have a question…
My fluffy butt babies moved in to their coop at 7 weeks old. For the first couple nights they kept bunching up in the lay boxes for the night. I decide to block those off with a sheet of plywood for now as I didn’t want them to confuse those for where they should be sleeping. I figured they would figure it out about the roost as I had put mini roosts in the brooder early and they used those fine. Two weeks later they are still bunching up on the floor of the coop and not using the roosts. Should I not worry and they will eventually figure it out or should I be concerned, does that mean that they are cold and bunching up for warmth or do they just prefer to sleep this way? I do see them roosting in there during the day so I know that they can all get up on them. After about the third or fourth night out there they put themselves in the coop so all I have to do is go out and close their door.

 

[cavemanrich]

Two weeks later they are still bunching up on the floor of the coop and not using the roosts. Should I not worry and they will eventually figure it out or should I be concerned, does that mean that they are cold and bunching up for warmth

They are still young. I think during night time, they prefer the close bunching to share warmth.
I would not be worried at all. I think opening up those nest boxes is also ok. They are still chicks.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Mother of Chaos]

New chicken tender, and have a question…
My fluffy butt babies moved in to their coop at 7 weeks old. For the first couple nights they kept bunching up in the lay boxes for the night. I decide to block those off with a sheet of plywood for now as I didn’t want them to confuse those for where they should be sleeping. I figured they would figure it out about the roost as I had put mini roosts in the brooder early and they used those fine. Two weeks later they are still bunching up on the floor of the coop and not using the roosts. Should I not worry and they will eventually figure it out or should I be concerned, does that mean that they are cold and bunching up for warmth or do they just prefer to sleep this way? I do see them roosting in there during the day so I know that they can all get up on them. After about the third or fourth night out there they put themselves in the coop so all I have to do is go out and close their door.

Is there any kind of dim lighting inside the coop at night? - from a streetlight, etc.

If not, it’s possible that they’re not confident enough of the precise location of the roost bar to fly up in the dark. Since they do use them during the day, this might be the issue. Maybe one tried, got bonked, and now they’re all “heck, no.”

If you have power in the coop, you might try a plugin nightlight. There are also little “puck lights” available for use in a closet, etc.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

New chicken tender, and have a question…
My fluffy butt babies moved in to their coop at 7 weeks old. For the first couple nights they kept bunching up in the lay boxes for the night. I decide to block those off with a sheet of plywood for now as I didn’t want them to confuse those for where they should be sleeping. I figured they would figure it out about the roost as I had put mini roosts in the brooder early and they used those fine. Two weeks later they are still bunching up on the floor of the coop and not using the roosts. Should I not worry and they will eventually figure it out or should I be concerned, does that mean that they are cold and bunching up for warmth or do they just prefer to sleep this way? I do see them roosting in there during the day so I know that they can all get up on them. After about the third or fourth night out there they put themselves in the coop so all I have to do is go out and close their door.

*scratch one part, I missed you addressed they're on the roosts during day
Have you noticed them playing on the roosts during the day? (By "playing", I really just mean being on the roost.)

Ours usually start with some playing on the roosts. One teaches the others it's there. Then, eventually, one roosts at night. And the others will gradually follow.
Often somebody (human) will place a bird on the roost (as long as we know they can jump/fly up and down themselves)

Depending on how old they are, and how cold it is there, probably aren't cold.
It's usually 60f at night here right now. My broody-raised chicks are 6 weeks and recently all started roosting at night. (The moms stopped snuggling them at 2 weeks. They were fine and not cold. They started trying to fly to the roosts at 3 weeks.)

 

[Bbmkr3]

I hadn’t thought about a light I will have to try that and see if it helps.
I has been in the mid 50s here at night that might be part of the problem as well. If you look at the pic of the coop you can see two triangle areas that are open (except for hardware cloth). Hubby and I never put the boards there as we were going to make it a venting area during summer and hinge it so that it can be closed when it gets cold. I was figuring it would get warm enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it in yet and it strangely hasn’t been as warm as it usually is.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Young birds with no adults to show them take longer to roost. If it doesn't bother you, let them figure it out on their own time. Or if you prefer that they roost then manually place them on the roost each night once it's dark, until they learn to go up themselves.