Chickens won't sleep on roost is that a problem?

[KarynVA]

A bit of back story. My first batch of chickens I had were Golden Comets and I raised them from chicks. They took to the roost in our coop right away and always slept on the roost at night. Our roosting bar is a 2X4 with the widest side facing up. There is plenty of head room above it.

Now to the current day, those previous chickens have gone to a farm to become mamas and I got a new batch of chicks - Easter Eggers. They were 6 weeks old when I got them and I didn't see a roost where they came from, so I don't think they had modeling by older chickens of using a roost at night. These chickens happily sit on the roost in our coop during the day, no problem. But at night, they always sleep in a pile in the back corner of the coop. It is in the 60s at night and they are fully feathered 10 weeks old now so I don't think it's due to being cold.

Is it a problem that they sleep in a pile on the floor? Oddly, I don't find a pile of poop in the morning after they leave; I have no idea how that works. I've tried gently moving them to the roost but these chickens are extremely skittish and the moment I try to touch one, even after dark, they panic-fly and nearly hurt themselves, crazy girls.

 

[Karianne]

Maybe a picture of your roost bar and coop set-up would help? Perhaps a "step up" intermediate height roost, or a thinner roost would suit them better?

Only one of my chicks seemed early on wanting to fly up high and roost (a different breed than the others), the rest seemed more cautious and appreciated a lower roost to begin with, but mostly preferred sleeping on the floor until they hit about 10 or 12 weeks I can't remember. They will probably get it with time regardless! Still very young

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I have two 15-week-old that won't stay the full night on the bar. They end up in the boxes or on the floor. Drives me bonkers, so I let them back in the outside run where I use a branch for their roost.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you describe is totally normal with mine. If no adults are present my brooder-raised chicks tend to not roost until they are around 10 to 12 weeks old. I have had some roost as young as 5 weeks, some take longer than 12, but most are in that time frame. I think the layout of my grow-out coop and the roosts in there affects that timing some. If they are in the main coop with adults or are broody-raised, all bets are off.

Like yours. mine play up there during the day so they can get up there. They just don't want to sleep up there yet. It's a case of want to, not can they.

Until mine start to sleep on the roosts they generally sleep in a group on the coop floor. They are not cold, they just like the company. If they were being raised by a broody hen that's how they'd sleep until she took them to the roosts. In a group under her. I put a perch in the brooder, they play on that often even a few days old. But they still sleep in that group on the brooder floor.

Some people seem to think there is something wrong with their chicks if they don't start roosting at night at a very young age. I don't and tend to leave decisions like that up to them.

 

[MadGardener]

Howdy from Patrick County!

I had some issues with this last year with my Columbian Rocks (I inherited the flock when they were about 4 mos old). Unfortunately they were sleeping in nest boxes and making a mess of the older ladies' eggs. I moved them to the roost every night and they got the hint after a few weeks.

Good luck!

 

[Babsby]

I have 3 hens and 2 roosters that I really didn't expect to live from being hatched in my home made incubator. As they grew I wanted to get a place for them to be safe at night but let them roam during the day. The only place I had extra, from my grown up chicken's coop/run was a chicken tractor. I fenced around it and I moved them to the tractor. Although we did put a roosting bar in the tractor, they sleep in a bunch on the floor which is covered with sand and pine chips. They grew up together sleeping in a bunch and didn't have Mommas to teach them roosting so I guess this is the reason for them sleeping on the floor. Only issue I've had so far is one did get a messy butt that I attributed to her sleeping on the floor, but not sure. Fortunately she let me clean her.

 

[HCren]

A bit of back story. My first batch of chickens I had were Golden Comets and I raised them from chicks. They took to the roost in our coop right away and always slept on the roost at night. Our roosting bar is a 2X4 with the widest side facing up. There is plenty of head room above it.

Now to the current day, those previous chickens have gone to a farm to become mamas and I got a new batch of chicks - Easter Eggers. They were 6 weeks old when I got them and I didn't see a roost where they came from, so I don't think they had modeling by older chickens of using a roost at night. These chickens happily sit on the roost in our coop during the day, no problem. But at night, they always sleep in a pile in the back corner of the coop. It is in the 60s at night and they are fully feathered 10 weeks old now so I don't think it's due to being cold.

Is it a problem that they sleep in a pile on the floor? Oddly, I don't find a pile of poop in the morning after they leave; I have no idea how that works. I've tried gently moving them to the roost but these chickens are extremely skittish and the moment I try to touch one, even after dark, they panic-fly and nearly hurt themselves, crazy girls.

I have 3 hens and 2 roosters that I really didn't expect to live from being hatched in my home made incubator. As they grew I wanted to get a place for them to be safe at night but let them roam during the day. The only place I had extra, from my grown up chicken's coop/run was a chicken tractor. I fenced around it and I moved them to the tractor. Although we did put a roosting bar in the tractor, they sleep in a bunch on the floor which is covered with sand and pine chips. They grew up together sleeping in a bunch and didn't have Mommas to teach them roosting so I guess this is the reason for them sleeping on the floor. Only issue I've had so far is one did get a messy butt that I attributed to her sleeping on the floor, but not sure. Fortunately she let me clean her.

I have 4 chickens, 2 that are Olive Eggers 11 weeks old and 2 that were from a school who incubated eggs and I took them at around 2 weeks now 13 weeks. One of those pullets will not go in the coop at night, paces back and forth in the coop and can’t figure it out! I pick her up and make her go in. And she is super confused about the roosting situation, the rest are roosting all together. Does she need a different rooster like a ladder? We have 4 different roosters, different sizes 2x2, 2x3, 2x4’s at different levels. She can’t figure out how to get up to the top. Any advice or should I let her figure it out?
Thanks,
Hollie