Cooping up at night

[22ChickenNuggets]

As a lot of you know (or maybe not) I’m a new chicken owner this year. My girls and roo are almost 7 months old. And I’ve been through hell, loosing one, bumblefoot, eye issues, yes I know it’s common. But I’m wondering if anyone can help me because maybe I’m over reacting, or maybe I’m not. I have a flock of 21. Consisting of Red stars, black stars, Easter eggers, 2 polish, and black giants and 1 Cochin Roo. At night when they coop up for bedtime, I feel like it’s a chaotic mess, now I know pecking order, maybe i don’t understand it well enough and them being 7 months old i thought they would have it figured out. But I have found that a couple birds might be bullies. My poor polish are petrified to go into the coop at night because they get beat up (no blood) and a couple EE’s get beat on too. Now I have enough roost bar space, the roost bars aren’t a ladder system they are all the same height. I find myself going out at bedtime and sitting in the coop making sure the lower ladies don’t get pushed around, and it’s gotten to the point my polish will actually run to me when they come in because they are scared. I feel like I created an issue, because I’m too emotional when it comes to things (horrible character flaw) but back to what I think is bullying. I have 1 black star who will sit by the door and Tag the lower ranking girls as they come in and chase them though the coop. The screams get me every time and I immediately stop her. But then as they are roosting it goes back to the point where some of them get bullied off the bars again. There has been times that the scared birds have actually pushed my roo off the roost because they are trying to get away from getting their ass kicked. He’s a big boy I’m scared he’s gonna hurt himself. But I’m just trying to figure out if my emotional character flaw is causing this chaos? Did I mess up my birds pecking order thinking it was bullying. At 7 months old will it correct itself? does it ever just calm down or is this going to be this much of a hot mess? Can someone maybe explain pecking order vs. bullying to me? Did I ruin my birds by being a “helicopter mom” If I did I feel like I failed as a chicken owner thus far. And it makes me sad for my birds. I just want peace in the coop. I want to be able to leave over night without worrying that something is going to happen. Please help!

 

[aart]

Now I have enough roost bar space, the roost bars aren’t a ladder system they are all the same height.

How long is the roost, in feet or inches?
Please post pics of your coop and roosts.

RoostTimeRumble is the most contentious part of the day.

 

[aart]

My roost bars are 8 feet long 2x4’s and there are 3 or them,

Technically enough according to the rule of thumb of 12" per bird.
But since they have to fly up there's going to be excessive shuffling.
I wouldn't try to direct traffic, they need to work it out themselves.
Might want to put that lower roost back in there for the polish.

my coop is 8x8 can comfortably fit 30 chickens.

That's ~2sqft per bird, factory farm spacing.
Even for 21(3sqft p/b), it's smaller than I'd want.
But you may have a better run than I and live in a milder climate.

 

[BecaHawaii]

As a lot of you know (or maybe not) I’m a new chicken owner this year. My girls and roo are almost 7 months old. And I’ve been through hell, loosing one, bumblefoot, eye issues, yes I know it’s common. But I’m wondering if anyone can help me because maybe I’m over reacting, or maybe I’m not. I have a flock of 21. Consisting of Red stars, black stars, Easter eggers, 2 polish, and black giants and 1 Cochin Roo. At night when they coop up for bedtime, I feel like it’s a chaotic mess, now I know pecking order, maybe i don’t understand it well enough and them being 7 months old i thought they would have it figured out. But I have found that a couple birds might be bullies. My poor polish are petrified to go into the coop at night because they get beat up (no blood) and a couple EE’s get beat on too. Now I have enough roost bar space, the roost bars aren’t a ladder system they are all the same height. I find myself going out at bedtime and sitting in the coop making sure the lower ladies don’t get pushed around, and it’s gotten to the point my polish will actually run to me when they come in because they are scared. I feel like I created an issue, because I’m too emotional when it comes to things (horrible character flaw) but back to what I think is bullying. I have 1 black star who will sit by the door and Tag the lower ranking girls as they come in and chase them though the coop. The screams get me every time and I immediately stop her. But then as they are roosting it goes back to the point where some of them get bullied off the bars again. There has been times that the scared birds have actually pushed my roo off the roost because they are trying to get away from getting their ass kicked. He’s a big boy I’m scared he’s gonna hurt himself. But I’m just trying to figure out if my emotional character flaw is causing this chaos? Did I mess up my birds pecking order thinking it was bullying. At 7 months old will it correct itself? does it ever just calm down or is this going to be this much of a hot mess? Can someone maybe explain pecking order vs. bullying to me? Did I ruin my birds by being a “helicopter mom” If I did I feel like I failed as a chicken owner thus far. And it makes me sad for my birds. I just want peace in the coop. I want to be able to leave over night without worrying that something is going to happen. Please help!

When this happened with mine I added a slightly lower perch. I think it always allowed the pecking order to be adhered to. They always go up to the top but after the top pecking order settle. So we have high perches and a couple of lower perches. They all end up on the high perches after settling.

 

[McChooky]

My roost bars are 8 feet long 2x4’s and there are 3 or them, my coop is 8x8 can comfortably fit 30 chickens. We did a lot of research before building this coop, it is modeled after Carolina coops. The smaller ones on the floor are gone, those were to help them get up on the taller ones when they were little. View attachment 2825361

Chickens need 4 sq ft minimum. Being jammed in a small coop in brutal weather can cause them to habitually fight other flock members. If I could stress one thing its give them more room then you won't have to babysit them anymore.

 

[aart]

The higher the better.

Not necessarily.
They want to be as high as they can get, but don't need to be.
Some coops are too small to put roost too high, landing pattern crashes.
Roosts just need to be higher than the nests, so they won't sleep in nests.

 

[3KillerBs]

Chickens need 4 sq ft minimum. Being jammed in a small coop in brutal weather can cause them to habitually fight other flock members. If I could stress one thing its give them more room then you won't have to babysit them anymore.

Key point.

30 chickens should have a minimum of 120 square feet in the coop -- 10x12.

While *theoretically* a large flock in a large coop *might* be able to tolerate higher densities because an individual bird has more space to avoid another individual bird, 8x8 is only a little more than half the suggested space per bird.

2 square feet per bird is commercial density -- where behavior problems are "handled" by debeaking the birds so they can't kill each other and intensive breeding selection for birds that can handle the conditions (see hatchery catalogs where certain breeds have a note "tolerates confinement").

 

[sourland]

Key point.

30 chickens should have a minimum of 120 square feet in the coop -- 10x12.

While *theoretically* a large flock in a large coop *might* be able to tolerate higher densities because an individual bird has more space to avoid another individual bird, 8x8 is only a little more than half the suggested space per bird.

2 square feet per bird is commercial density -- where behavior problems are "handled" by debeaking the birds so they can't kill each other and intensive breeding selection for birds that can handle the conditions (see hatchery catalogs where certain breeds have a note "tolerates confinement").

This is a sad reality, and problems will only increase during the Mi. winter when birds are likely confined to the coop.

 

[SusanMc]

Technically enough according to the rule of thumb of 12" per bird.
But since they have to fly up there's going to be excessive shuffling.
I wouldn't try to direct traffic, they need to work it out themselves.
Might want to put that lower roost back in there for the polish.



That's ~2sqft per bird, factory farm spacing.
Even for 21(3sqft p/b), it's smaller than I'd want.
But you may have a better run than I and live in a milder climate.

I used to try to redirect, and move birds...but now I just watch,

 

[BecaHawaii]

My roost bars are 8 feet long 2x4’s and there are 3 or them, my coop is 8x8 can comfortably fit 30 chickens. We did a lot of research before building this coop, it is modeled after Carolina coops. The smaller ones on the floor are gone, those were to help them get up on the taller ones when they were little. View attachment 2825361

I would not put 30 chickens in an 8x8 area.