Do cochins roost? or sleep on the ground?

[dwegg]

I just got two new cochin hens (huge girls) almost 9 months old. Can they get up onto a roost? or do they need a low one close to the ground? or do they prefer to sleep on the ground in the coop?

I have had mine for three nights now and each night I have gone out there and put them up on the roost (about 4 foot high) with the other girls and then I have been taking them down each morning. If I just leave them they will settle down on the floor together but I want them to be with my other girls.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

My Partridge Cochins roost on a ladder, the bottom 3 steps. one rooster roosts up high on the roost (aprox 5 ft. off the ground), but the others NO. they like it close to the ground.

 

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

Our two standards sleep in a corner together!

 

[willkatdawson]

dwegg I went through the same thing with my first roo I got from Beth. I don't think they even know what a roost is for. I don't think they've ever seen one. After some time my first roo figured it out and loved to roost with the hens. I, like you, I had to go out at night and place him on the roost and take him off in the morning. I'm doing it all over again with this new roo I got from Beth. I'm even having a hard time getting him to go out with the hens to free range. She said he had never been out to free range before and he seems very insecure when he's out of the coop. I got him on 3-11-2010 and he needs to figure things out. He's like a teenager, stays inside all day and eats and sleeps. He needs to work for his dinner. Oh, and he's really scared to walk on the asphalt driveway.

 

[dwegg]

That is funny. He is the big boy now and has to work things out for himself. My two girls tried to go to bed with the others tonight like good girls but they just didn't know how to get up on the roost. So I ended up putting them up there again but I will make a ladder with low steps all the way to the ground for them.
The are doing so great. I have had three eggs from them already and today I let them free range with all my other girls. No real fuss with anyone, it was great to see. My black cochin is very bold and adventurous but the blue stayed either close to the door or inside the run.
Love, love the cochins.

 

[Crazy4cochins]

All my cochins sleep on their roosts. My little tiny cochin hen flies all the way tp my highest roost sometimes. it's about 6 ft up.
the only chickens i have that slept on the floor were my turkens.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I have a heavy bantam cochin hen who has to be put on the roost and taken down every morning. She is just tooo darn heavy to fly up there anymore. If i happen to forget to take her off the roost she stays up there alll day. I would try putting in a lower roost for them and see if they use it on their own, if not you may end up putting them up every night and taking them off in the morning like I do.

 

[Damummis]

I have 10 Cochins, 2 sleep on the roost the rest sleep in a big pile in the corner of the coop. Go figure.

 

[dct10]

My Partridge Cochins roost on a ladder, the bottom 3 steps. one rooster roosts up high on the roost (aprox 5 ft. off the ground), but the others NO. they like it close to the ground.

same with mine. Only my Partridge Cochins will use the roosting bars. All the others prefer to stay on the ground.

 

[Maxxxine]

I have 2 blue cochins and they sleep on a roost that is only 12" off the ground. They tuck into the corner together. I thought maybe they were shy towards the older hens but I am now thinking they are just too big to get up to the other roost (3'). They took a while to leave the coop on their own. Ive had them about 2 months now and they are free ranging with the rest of the flock but they always stick together and never go too far from the coop. Theyre laying and theyre healthy and SO beautiful.