CHICKS NOT ROOSTING

It took FOREVER for my chickens to learn to roost! Now all but one roost each night. My naked neck still insists on sleeping on the table we have in the coop, the silly girl. Do they go on it during the day? You may need to place them on it so they know it's there. If that doesn't help, they should eventually figure it out on their own

 

My brooder raised chicks normally start roosting about 10 to 12 weeks of age. I’ve had some start at 5 weeks and some take a lot longer. Until they take to the roosts, they normally sleep in a group on the floor, often in a corner of the coop.

There is no magic age when all chicks will start to roost. I just let mine go and don’t worry about it.

 

It's not an emergency.....relax. It's like potty training a human child, they'll do it when they're good and ready. No problem with them sleeping on the ground, so don't stress. If the roost is that low, they might not see the point in using it. The point of a roost in the bird's little brain is to be higher off the ground, thus safer from predators. They tend to seek out the highest places to roost, so moving the roost up might help, when they're ready.

 

I stuck 10 RIR eggs under a banty hen this summer and when they were 2 weeks old they started hopping up the ladder to sleep on a 6' ft high roost with the hen & the broody rooster. But they had a bad habit of falling off the perch during the night
I put the same kind of eggs under a RIR and a game hen and they still sleep on the ground @ 2 months.
Generally speaking my bittys start roosting between 2-3 months. They'll roost when they get ready but I want them off the ground as soon as possible so I encourage them to roost by manually placing them on the roost and by using ladders for them to hop on etc.

 

I took in (2) 2 mo old pullets who was living in a bird cage with no access to roost. When they got here, they honestly didnt know what to do. I placed a curtain rod in their cage, because they were still separate from the flock for safety and actually placed them on the roost. It took a few tries but once they got the hang of it, they jumped on at dusk. Now they are the first to go in at night and fight for the best position.

Barb