chickens not roosting

[Beca]

I got five new chickens they seem to getting along with my other chickens but they will not roost at night they stay on the floor in the coop. Has anyone else had this problem I was told when I got them that they were only 3 months old & I have had them almost a month now. I will post pic's when I get my phone back.
Thanks Beca

 

[StewedMammal]

Yes I have this problem frequently as well. Once they get older, they may go up themselves, or you may have to keep putting them on the roost until they start doing it themselves.

 

[Beca]

I had to put them in the coop at night for the first few days that I got them but they go in on their own now but are the last ones to go in at night. I have not tryed to put them up on the roost yet I will try that to night. Thanks

 

[iwiw60]

I had to put them in the coop at night for the first few days that I got them but they go in on their own now but are the last ones to go in at night. I have not tryed to put them up on the roost yet I will try that to night. Thanks

I had to chuckle when I read your post. I went through the same thing, too. Once they were put to the coop they all huddled together in a big feather-ball and wouldn't go up on the roost. I had to pick them up and put them on the roost every night. Only problem is, my (spoiled) girls never got the message "get your behinds UP there!" ..

I still put them "to bed" every night...they have me trained well I fear!

 

[tav1]

What happens if they don't roost

 

[StewedMammal]

What happens if they don't roost

Nothing bad, other than sometimes they get pooped on by the chickens that are on the roosts

 

[tav1]

Lol

 

[nvdirtfreak]

My six month old chickens do not roost, either. They huddle together on the floor, but I figure it's not hurting anything so I've never done anything about it. They lay well and seem happy and healthy

 

[aart]

I got five new chickens they seem to getting along with my other chickens but they will not roost at night they stay on the floor in the coop. Has anyone else had this problem I was told when I got them that they were only 3 months old & I have had them almost a month now. I will post pic's when I get my phone back.
Thanks Beca

Do you have enough roost space? Best to have at least a foot per bird.

The new birds are still working their way into the pecking order probably.

If you have room, adding another roost might help, same height or just a tad lower.
That's what I did for some pullets in the flock that weren't 'allowed' to roost with the older birds even tho there was plenty of room.

 

[Beca]

:They have plenty of roost room left there should be enough room for almost twice as many more chickens to roost. But good news I have been putting them up on the roost this last few days & last night all but 2 made it up to roost all by them self so things are getting better. lol But there is some thing else that has me worried I noticed that the new chickens poop really smells different than the others, I noticed it a little bit before I moved them in with the others but I can really smell it now that they are inside the coop at night. They are Australorp's I think the person I got them from got a lot of them from some were & needed to get rid of a few. I have never had any of this bred before but I have had a lot of different breds over the yrs & never noticed any different smelling poop like this it just seems they have a lot stronger smelling poop. Has any one heard of this I guess it could be from them getting a different kind of feed than what they were use to.