Chickens not using coop to roost at night.

[MMelton67]

1st off: I've read through at least 3 other threads on this over the last week and am posting this question because I think I've ruled out the main deterrents to chickens wanting to roost in their coop: Predators, Mites, space, ventilation.

Timeline: 16 chicks born June 19th 8 Lavender Orps, 8 Barred Plymouth Rocks shipped from Hoover's
June 21: Kept in small brooder cages. Initially all 16 in one 2'x3' then split them in half to a 2nd 2'x3' cage.
Jul 20: I put them all in a 4'x8' tractor I was moving out of the garage in the AM and back in for the night. Lost one BPR to some sort of illness during this time.
Aug 18: moved them to a 4'x8' coop with an 8'x8 run which I then added a 50' perimeter net run.
Not enclosed overhead and lost 1 LO and 1 BPR to hawks.
Dec 5: moved to current 8'x8' coop with 8'x40' totally enclosed run.

The current situation, I think, meets the needs of 16 full sized birds at 4sf per bird (more so in that there are just 13 now) in the run and 320sf of run space.

The coop is 8x8, 6.5' tall at the front and 5' tall at the back. 1 14" deep by 48" wide colony style nesting box in the coop. There is no issue of them laying, we just had a max day of 10 eggs from 13 birds that are still just shy of 7 months and our daily average has been 6 for 5-7 weeks AFTER their move to this new coop situation 6 weeks ago. They are feeding, watering and laying in the coop. They just aren't sleeping in it at night.

I have inspected the perimeter of the entire coop and run and see no indications of anything trying to get in. It's been cold and wet for over a week and any predator would leave muddy footprints. Over the last 16 months of living on this property and walking it multiple times a day, I feel we are relatively low population of racoons and possum.

I've intentionally stirred up the bedding and used a flashlight to observe the dust...it clears in what I think is an appropriate time leaving no long lasting cloud. Even in the week of mostly cloudy, rainy and generally damp conditions, I can walk into the coop and feel like I'm in a dry environment.

There are two, 8' roosting bars set at 24 and 36 inches off the floor. The roosting box is set so it's top is 18" off the ground. They are laying in it fine and not roosting on top of it.

I just went down there 30 minutes ago, well after dark and all of them are clustered near the front of coop, most laying on the ground, 2 sitting in their doorway to the coop and 2 on the hinged door. I didn't not have my phone with me, so no pic.

We are dropping into single digits Sunday night and I will physically place them in the coop Sunday afternoon and shut them in.

Otherwise, I'm at a loss. Here is a pic of the inside of the coop from my access door. Their door to the run is to the right. I had just added the square pan in the middle there with some sand and generic kitty litter. It's been so wet they have lost their natural dust baths outside. The roosting issue has predated this addition. I had added a 2' long swing roost in the middle of this space but took it down thinking maybe they didn't like it and weren't roosting because of it. I also had 2 8' roost bars in the run and another 2' swing. 5 nights ago, I realized they were roosting outside instead of inside and after reading other threads, removed all roosting options but the ones inside the coop. 2 days now of no other options and they're camping on the ground...

 

[rosemarythyme]

You didn't mention light and I don't see windows. Have you walked inside and shut the door at dusk to see how dark it is inside? They can't navigate if they can't see.

Were they roosting reliably in your previous coops/set ups? Have they ever roosted in this coop? Did you home them to the coop when they first moved in (for example, locking them in the first few days - week)?

 

[Mrs. K]

Did they ever roost?

I admit, I am quite surprised they are not roosting. One of the big problems with a flat surface or sleeping in the nest, is the poop does not fall away, and they tend to get dirty. You said they roosted outside, so they know how to roost.

From the picture, it looks like the roosts a two by four? Is that what they were roosting on outside?

For the cold spell, I would lock them in the coop. It looks like good ventilation to me. But I would let them out in the daytime. Some people have had to physically put them on the roost for a couple of nights.

If you have flat roosts, you might try round, or a combination. I will admit none of mine would roost on the lower roost, but all try and crowd on the top one. But you said you didn't have any birds on the top roost, right?

People always like the roost to line up with the wall. I myself prefer mine more kitty corner, you get a longer roost closer to the hypotenuse and it allows the birds to be more in the middle of the coop rather than next to the wall.

But I have had chickens for a long time, and do not see any reason why yours are not roosting.

Mrs K

 

[MMelton67]

You didn't mention light and I don't see windows. Have you walked inside and shut the door at dusk to see how dark it is inside? They can't navigate if they can't see.

Were they roosting reliably in your previous coops/set ups? Have they ever roosted in this coop? Did you home them to the coop when they first moved in (for example, locking them in the first few days - week)?

So far this winter, their 14x14 door has remained open. But, after dark, I'm quite sure it's dark inside. I honestly didn't realize they needed light at night. I thought they needed darkness to sleep and if you added light you were forcing extra light on them to make them lay more. But, on a moonless night, even with a window, there would be very little light??? I actually just ordered some battery operated lights just so we could see better when tending the coop. So, I'll add them tomorrow and leave them on at night?

They started roosting in the brooding cages as soon as I added bars, and, they roosted in the tractor's bars. They were roosting in the smaller coop, too. Sometimes I would check and they would all be roosting inside, sometimes, some outside on the roost bar I put there and some inside. Seemed normal and it was late summer/fall.

I did not force them into the coop w/o access to the new run. We moved them on the 5th of Dec and it seemed as if they relished the extra space of the new run and the eggs per day just increased from 2-3 a day to 6-7 a day in the last 5 weeks. So, I have used that as a metric to their happiness and didn't pay much attention until the looming threat of serious cold is now here.

I have honestly agonized over not being able to provide heat at this coop's location, just too far away to financially be able to run power right now. But, a lot of reading has seemed to assure me they would be fine in a well built coop...but they are not wanting to go in it.

Thank you for the feedback. I'll see if more light helps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So far this winter, their 14x14 door has remained open. But, after dark, I'm quite sure it's dark inside. I honestly didn't realize they needed light at night. I thought they needed darkness to sleep and if you added light you were forcing extra light on them to make them lay more. But, on a moonless night, even with a window, there would be very little light??? I actually just ordered some battery operated lights just so we could see better when tending the coop. So, I'll add them tomorrow and leave them on at night.

They do not need light at night and I'd discourage folks from leaving lights on all night, as animals sleep better with darkness. They do however need enough light at dusk to see, in order to get up on the roosts.

If you are using a battery operated light in lieu of windows, turn it on about half hour before dusk, and then off about half hour after (or when everyone's settled).

Windows are my preference, no need to be home to micromanage or adjust for time changes through the season, though understandably you probably don't want to be out right now adding windows!

 

[MMelton67]

Did they ever roost?

I admit, I am quite surprised they are not roosting. One of the big problems with a flat surface or sleeping in the nest, is the poop does not fall away, and they tend to get dirty. You said they roosted outside, so they know how to roost.

From the picture, it looks like the roosts a two by four? Is that what they were roosting on outside?

For the cold spell, I would lock them in the coop. It looks like good ventilation to me. But I would let them out in the daytime. Some people have had to physically put them on the roost for a couple of nights.

If you have flat roosts, you might try round, or a combination. I will admit none of mine would roost on the lower roost, but all try and crowd on the top one. But you said you didn't have any birds on the top roost, right?

People always like the roost to line up with the wall. I myself prefer mine more kitty corner, you get a longer roost closer to the hypotenuse and it allows the birds to be more in the middle of the coop rather than next to the wall.

But I have had chickens for a long time, and do not see any reason why yours are not roosting.

Mrs K

They have roosted in their brooding cages as early as 10-4 days and continued to roost in each move I detailed above till now...including on the outdoor/run roosts I had given them. My concern first arose on a rainy day 5 days ago when they were roosting in the rain outside at 38 degrees and were all pretty soaking wet, especially the Orps.

All the roosting bars they have had since they were 5 weeks or so have been ripped 2x4's...which are 1.5 x 3.5 actual...with the 1.5 edge up...and the factory rounded edge as the upper edge and not my cut square edge. It's what I used in the tractor, the 4x8 coop and now in the 8x8 coop and it's run. It has seemed to be a good fit and within parameters of roost bar sizing I've read about.

I hear what you're saying about the hypotenuse. I made sure that the upper bar, which is closest to the side wall, is 12" from the wall to allow enough room and the lower bar is 18" from the wall and 12" lower than the upper. That picture was taken wide angle, so visually it's skewed.

We will move them in on Sunday for sure. They are reasonably tame and we can pick them up if we're fast enough, lol. So, I'm not ultimately worried about protecting them. Just not sure what their issue is.

As a side note, they seem really hungry all the time. You can just see the top of the feeder in the pic, it's the standard type gravity feeder with a 7# capacity. It's always got feed in it. Since Jan 1, I've been logging what I add to it to refill it to about 2/3 capacity every day between 4 and 5. Their consumption doesn't vary much and I put 6-8 cups by volume in it every day. They get 2 cups by volume of scratch grain tossed into the run at the end of each day.

 

[MMelton67]

They do not need light at night and I'd discourage folks from leaving lights on all night, as animals sleep better with darkness. They do however need enough light at dusk to see, in order to get up on the roosts.

If you are using a battery operated light in lieu of windows, turn it on about half hour before dusk, and then off about half hour after (or when everyone's settled).

Windows are my preference, no need to be home to micromanage or adjust for time changes through the season, though understandably you probably don't want to be out right now adding windows!

yea, I need a more automated system if lighting is the issue. but...like, at dusk...if they move in at dusk...there's light enough. I know they have always, even in the smaller coop from August to December they would not move into the coop till well after what I call 'dusk'.

But, I can easily add a window of some sort. I don't die from cold too easily and I have several pieces of plexiglass laying around that I can fashion a window out of.

Cheers! and Ty! I'll post a pic of the window addition tomorrow. I can put it on the south wall to get the most light.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I put 6-8 cups by volume in it every day. They get 2 cups by volume of scratch grain tossed into the run at the end of each day.

That is a lot of scratch. Assuming they're eating 8 cups of feed, 2 cups of scratch is 20% of their intake. Treats should be kept under 10% of intake as excess fat in chickens can lead to laying problems and fatty liver disease.

 

[MMelton67]

That is a lot of scratch. Assuming they're eating 8 cups of feed, 2 cups of scratch is 20% of their intake. Treats should be kept under 10% of intake as excess fat in chickens can lead to laying problems and fatty liver disease.

I hear that, it was only a cup till our first cold snap. I understand the math but with no bugs and extra cold I thought a little more energy would be ok. Do you think that even in winter, with no source of bugs as supplement to their feed that it's too much? Thank you.

As far as laying, their average has gone from 3-5 per day throughout December to 6-8 since Jan 1. I did not start logging till Jan 1 but since then it's been: 5,7,6,7,7,8,7,10,4,6 and 8 yesterday. January 3 was the first day we had gotten 6 eggs from them.

I think you hit the nail on the head regarding light. Thank you for that insight! I went down before light this morning and as soon as I stepped into the coop with the flashlight half of them came right in. I'm heading to Lowes now to pick up a storm window to install. I left a couple of small LED flashlights in there in the meantime.

 

[aart]

but with no bugs and extra cold I thought a little more energy would be ok

Thing is it's not as nutritious and that's more important to overall health and being able to handle the cold. Any feed will create 'heat' and 'energy' as it digests, so better to just give them the good chicken ration.

I'm heading to Lowes now to pick up a storm window to install.

Would be good to get tp hinge windows as they will also add ventilation in summer.