Design flaw or quirky behaviour?

[Cluckn Crazy]

My girls are around 2 1/2 months old. Every night, and I sat and watched them tonight, they start chirping unlike they do during the day. They file up the ramp and walk around for a minute or two then, almost in a panic, file back down to sleep on the base of the ramp for the night. Is there an improvement I can make to my roosts or is this just teenage behaviour? There are a few more pics on my page.

Would appreciate any comments!

 

[patandchickens]

Do they ever get up and sleep on the roost? If not, I am wondering if they simply have not yet learned about roosting. So they (maybe) go up there because instinct tells them 'sleep up high!' but then there aren't any flat snuggly deep shavings up there, just this piece of 2x4 in their way

, so they go back down and do what's familiar.

If that were the case, the solution would be to manually place them on the roost every evening for a few days or week til they clue in enough to do it themselves. (This method works with pretty much all won't-roost chickens, unless there is something really scary or repellant about the roost).

So unless you have already tried this for a week or two and it's not doing the job, I would not be too quick to blame the coop construction -- you may just need better-educated chickens <g>

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, sort of 'down the road from you' a ways in the Uxbridge area

 

[Cluckn Crazy]

Thanks for your reply Pat. I'm going to try the fluffy shavings as placing them up there is no fun for any of us:/. I'll be patient and see what happens.

BTW, my sister lives in Newmarket, and you're on the way, so I know Uxbridge quite well. I enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[patandchickens]

If you wait til it is truly dark, and use a headlamp, there should not be much of any ruckus with hand-placing them up there. In darkness, chickens are basically-blind and (if handled quickly and gently) pretty calm.

You can *try* waiting, but if the problem is that they have no clue what a roost is for, it may not necessarily help.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat