crowding the roost

[garye5007]

Hi,
I have a 8x8 coop and i put in 2 nice 2x4 roosts. one about 2' high and one a little over 3'. 6 chickens and they ALL want to roost in the on a beam near the roof. they are so packed in, they are literally on top of each other. should i discourage them from roosting up there? maybe by putting an angled board up there? or do i just let them be? there is another beam on the other side, but i guess they like togetherness.
any advice?
Thanks, Gary

 

[4Peep'sSake]

We knew nothing about chickens when we got started this March with our little flock. DH made a set of stairstep roost on one side of the coop and hung a row of nesting boxes on another wall. The top of the nesting boxes ended up being higher than our roosts so they all started roosting on top of the nesting boxes. After reading here how they like to roost up high, we moved the nesting boxes lower down and hung a roost in one of the corners about 4 feet off the ground. Soon our crew of 20 were all trying to crowed on the new roost. They couldn't all fit but it was pretty funny to see them all jostling for a position!

We put up another roost in the other corner of the coop, but it sits about 2 inches higher up. They all quickly decided to move to the slightly higher roost but still they could not all fit up there. For the next 2 nights I went in and moved the ones who couldn't fit over to the empty roost. After that they seemed to work it out on there own and now are split fairly evenly. I guess sometimes they need to be shown what to do.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

if they are still young, they are still working on pecking order. He who gets the top wrung wins. That's why all of mine are the same height. Now they fight over who gets to stick their head in the corner

 

[justtoni44]

they are funny for sure..I have one easter egger that flies to the second level of our barn every night.

 

[teach1rusl]

Generally, chickens want to roost on the highest point possible. So if you don't want them on the beams, you will have to block them off to force them to use the roosts (if you use dropping boards this is very important...lol). But if you're okay with the beams, no problem. Later, as others have mentioned, some will be "demoted" to the lower points. Mine use both levels of roosts because the roosts are beside a window, and a window seat carries more value than roost level in my coop...