do you have to teach them to roost at night?

[blueheaven]

my girls love to be curled up on the floor of the coop.
i have many 1x3 boards for them to roost with a droppings tray underneath.

they have never used the roosts in the coop. do i need to 'teach them'

they are only 4.5 weeks. when will they roost?

 

[patyrdz]

They may not roost this early, but put them on the roost every now and then so they get the idea! I had to put mine on the roost at night for about three days, and they learned. But when I started putting a roost in the brooder when the new ones were young, they got the idea on their own.

 

[rstaples]

I have a flock of 5 who are 7 weeks old. I am still putting them on the roost at night! About 3 of them get the idea, two are still wondering around. I have other flocks who are older, but the young girls just don't seem to get it. Keep working at it every day without any deviations. They will learn.

 

[ladeefire]

My girls (11 of them) magically started roosting this week with no instruction. They are 9.5 weeks old! some of them still snuggle on teh floor but most of them have been roosting since monday!

 

[Der Alte]

Mine go up to the roost area, but all ten pullets (about 9 wks old) hang off one side.

There are four roost bars, made of 2x2, each 4 ft long. They are all at the same height (4ft.), but on one side, near the ramp, I placed short sections of 2x4s. The 2x4s were intended to give them a side walkway between roost bars. They jam up on these and hang over the edge of the roost area. If they did fall off, it would be all the way down to the floor.

If you looked from the side, you see:

Four Roost Bars 2x2x48" long, each 48" high from floor
Wire Mesh (keeps them away from Droppings Board
Droppings Board 4'x5'(part of it forms ceiling for Nest Boxes)
Four Nest Boxes 20" high from floor
Floor

If you looked from the top, you would see (not to scale):

| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | | <- 4' long roost bars made of 2x2s
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
|||||||||||| <- 2x4s between the bars where they huddle
||
||
|| <- Ramp
||
||


I've tried putting feed on the roost bars. They go out and eat it and come back to that edge. Maybe I should try to block that area off so they use the roost bars. Any ideas?

Der Alte

 

[CMV]

My chickens have never roosted. They are well over a year old. I wish they would roost; it would certainly keep them cleaner. I have just resigned myself to the fact that they love to sleep in a big chicken pile, and every now and then I have to wash them off a bit to keep them beautiful.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

My 4 1/2 weekers are sleeping in a fluffy feather-carpet pile. I don't have roosts yet as I thought I read somewhere that it takes a while for them to want to roost. I could be wrong though. Right now I'm just shooting to get them up into the house part of their quarters but it's up about 1 1/2 feet off the ground so they are still tentative about it. I'm hoping they will get used to it as I've put them in there the last few nights so maybe they will eventually get the idea that that's bed.

 

[BCMominMD]

I'm certainly no expert but I kinda think it is a "follow the leader" thing. Once one goes up, the rest will follow.
Mine began roosting when I put a branch in the brooder when they were about 5 weeks old. I wondered if they would find the 2x4 that is 3 ft off the ground in the new coop. No problem - I went out the first night and they were all lined up on there.
I do think that they prefer 2x4's though. I have read on here that they like to fluff up and cover their feet.
Good luck!

 

[Kait27]

i've also read that a 2x4 with the 4" side up (so they are sitting on the widest part) is better in the winter- it forces them to sleep covering their feet, and reduces the risk of frost-bitten chicken toes. Might not be an issue depending on where you live.

 

[AnnesChicks]

At about three months they were still sleeping in a pile around the hanging feeder in the corner. So when I went out to close their coop for a couple of nights I picke up a couple and put them on the roost. Within a week they were all sleeping on the roost. (thick branches from our plum tree) Of course we have two roosts, same height/width and they all squeeze onto one. I love looking in the window and seeing them all snuggled up in a row!