Do ALL chickens do this?

[gritsar]

I love my brahma flock and they all get along so well. The only real bickering amongst them I have had was when some of the girls started laying and they'd fight over the nest boxes. Now they all have their favorite nest boxes and things have settled down.
They do have one habit that disturbs me. After free-ranging all day long they go into roost at night and fight over places on the roosts. When I say fight I mean pecks and fussing. It's not like I don't have enough roost space. There's a whole eight foot section not being used. They all cram together on 2/3rds of the roost and then spend a good 15 minutes arguing with their neighbors. One will peck at a neighbor, then peckee will move over a little and get pecked by the neighbor on the other side. Lil'Bit refuses to even use the roosts and sleeps with her beak pushed tight into a corner on the floor under their roosts. I think this is because of her vision problem.
My motto so far has been that if they're not drawing blood in their squabbles (and they never have) I leave them to figure it out. It does distress me though.
Do all chickens do this?

 

[hatchaholic]

I hope it's normal 'cuz mine do it to. The turkeys and the chickens all fight for the top corner of the roost. They'll even push each other off.

 

[Dar]

mine do it...I think it is about the pecking order..

I am thinking the same..as long as they are not drawing blood no worries..

 

[silkiechicken]

Yep, roost time can be the worse time for the lowest on the order and newbies to the coop. But it's all part of the pecking order so the day hours can be spent in peace.

 

[ashyannehand]

Every night there is a little show in my coop.

They all try to get on the same small 2 inch part of one of several roosts that I have for them. They knock each other off, peck and make a awful racket. It is kinda fun to watch to see which one of them wins the "best spot".

Chickens are so funny!

 

[swtangel321]

Sounds like a bunch of women !!!!!!!

 

[Adri]

Most of mine do that too. We have 4 roosts, but they all fight to be on the top two. Of course top ranking hens get to sleep on the very top roost. Then I have about 6 or 7 chickens (including my 2 most dominant roosters) who snuggle in a pile on the floor next to the door, just like when they were chicks. When we open the door, a couple of them spill out.

 

[gritsar]

Glad to know it's "normal".
If the lower ranking members had any sense they'd use that big section of unused roost instead of getting pecked on. Oh wait a minute, we're talking about chickens. Scratch the sense part.

 

[ams3651]

i have a couple who hang out on the lower roost and wait for the others to take their places before they get up and take theirs but there is still a little squabbling.

 

[bluey]

Mine do too! I love listening to them sqwauk over the roost!