LalaP
Songster
- Aug 11, 2020
- 88
- 179
- 136
I’m out of ideas on how to get my 21 week old pullets to roost. I posted here weeks ago and received helpful advice and I remodeled my whole coop and it worked... they were roosting but now they aren’t roosting again. Now they’re evening behavior is really unacceptable. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
The roof of my coop is propped up during the day to air it out. Before the remodel of the coop they would fly/hop directly into the open roof at dusk and sleep on the floor of the second story. Now if I leave the roof open they perch on the edge of the outer wall of the coop and I have to pick them up and move them inside to shut the roof hatch.
Here you can see one of them on the ledge I’m talking about.
So there is a door on the other side of the coop to the bottom floor. I tried closing the roof door before they go in for the night and they go in the coop and settle in on a tiny narrow shelf that is just outside the nest boxes. I’ve been closing off the nest boxes so they don’t try to sleep in there but this little shelf is the entryway and also the step up to get to the second floor. This shelf is lower than the second floor and much lower than the roost. They also don’t all fit so one sad, lowly girl is standing downstairs looking up at them when I go to check on them. And then I pick them up and put them on the roost.
There is 4.5 feet of roost space for 4 birds and plenty of overhead space above the roost for hopping up.
Is it possible that they can’t see well enough to navigate up to the roost when the roof hatch is closed? Would it help to put a light outside the coop but shining in the window that is near the roost opposite the nest box end of the coop? If possible I’d love to leave the roof hatch open and trick or train them into roosting in the right spot.
I’m out of ideas. I’m going out of town in mid-October and the neighbor boy who cares for my animals when I’m away won’t be able to pick the chickens up to move them onto the roost like I have been doing so I’d really like to get them into a good habit before then. Thanks in advance for any advice.
The roof of my coop is propped up during the day to air it out. Before the remodel of the coop they would fly/hop directly into the open roof at dusk and sleep on the floor of the second story. Now if I leave the roof open they perch on the edge of the outer wall of the coop and I have to pick them up and move them inside to shut the roof hatch.
Here you can see one of them on the ledge I’m talking about.
So there is a door on the other side of the coop to the bottom floor. I tried closing the roof door before they go in for the night and they go in the coop and settle in on a tiny narrow shelf that is just outside the nest boxes. I’ve been closing off the nest boxes so they don’t try to sleep in there but this little shelf is the entryway and also the step up to get to the second floor. This shelf is lower than the second floor and much lower than the roost. They also don’t all fit so one sad, lowly girl is standing downstairs looking up at them when I go to check on them. And then I pick them up and put them on the roost.
There is 4.5 feet of roost space for 4 birds and plenty of overhead space above the roost for hopping up.
Is it possible that they can’t see well enough to navigate up to the roost when the roof hatch is closed? Would it help to put a light outside the coop but shining in the window that is near the roost opposite the nest box end of the coop? If possible I’d love to leave the roof hatch open and trick or train them into roosting in the right spot.
I’m out of ideas. I’m going out of town in mid-October and the neighbor boy who cares for my animals when I’m away won’t be able to pick the chickens up to move them onto the roost like I have been doing so I’d really like to get them into a good habit before then. Thanks in advance for any advice.