Do your babies use a roost?

[wayneh]

we have our chicks for about a week now and they hardly never use a roost. built them a little roost, just high enough to get them off the floor. they walk over it and play on it but the still fall out all over the place. when they go to sleep, it looks like someone bombed them! little bodies laying everywhere. they will not use the roost. just wondering if everyone's chicks did this? looked at them about bed time last night and they were in 2 piles, kinda like puppies. seems kinda funny to me.

 

[The Chicken People]

Mine started right away! I notices we had more chicks than roost space so we put a log from the fire wood stack in there and they roost on it too!

 

[RoeDylanda]

I have a short section of 2x3 in there, sitting right on the floor, narrow side up. Three of the chicks will roost there while awake but all of them still sleep face-down on the floor.

 

[paceysgl5]

We added in low roosts after a few days and they didn't really use them until they were maybe 1.5-2 weeks old, now we have nice high roosts in there and they love them. Also have a low roost right under the heat lamp that the babies like to fall asleep on...very cute!

 

[teach1rusl]

Ours are one and two weeks, and so far they mostly play on our little roost. One or two will sit on it for a few minutes, but they still sleep in the bedding.

 

[moetrout]

my 3 week old BCMs use the roost and the 2 week old black stars as well. The other 4, 1 week old chicks do not. My roost are 1: dowel up about 8". Those black stars seem to be quick and agile for being as small as they are.

 

[Judy]

All the chicks I've had have slept cuddled up on the floor for several weeks. They would play and even nap on the roost during the day, then into the cuddle for the night. My 6 week olds cuddle in a nest in the coop; mama isn't mothering any more. I've tried setting them on the roost a few times, and they will go up there during the day, but get right down and head for the cuddle group at night. I don't plan on being insistent about roosting until they are somewhere near point of lay, and hopefully they will have moved to the roost on their own by then.

 

[babyrnlc]

When they were in the inside brooder I had a thick stick (2 in diameter) in there and from day one they would hop up on it (or lay their heads on it, depending).

When I moved them to the outdoor brooder, I have a perch about 15-18 inches off the ground and at 3 weeks old, the first moment I put them in, two of the chicks flew up to it!

When I moved my 5 week chicks to the coop, a few days after I moved them is when I had the panick of looking for them and then realizing they were all up on the roost!

So all of mine love to roost.

 

[debid]

Well, if you think of it in terms of natural behavior, they'd normally be sleeping under a hen at this age. So, sleeping in a huddled mass is the natural behavior. As they get older, they will roost.

 

[wsdareme]

Quote:
Debid is absolutely right. Mine are two weeks old today, and while they love to jump up on the EcoGlow and perch on the end supports, they still crawl under it and sleep together like they would with their momma. I really like the EcoGlow for that reason -- I think it mimics a more natural environment.

Trust me, they'll be roosting in no time!