I am new to raising chickens. We have 1 Delaware(BJ Chick) Golden lace Wyndott(Crisco) 2 Americanas (Omelet and Colonel Sandy) they have all formed a nice family unit, plus they play well together. They are about 7 1/2 weeks old. Right now they are living in what we call the "redneck" double wide condo/apartment. We put 2 gigantic plastic Rubbermaid bins together created opening between both bins, viola double the space less irritation among the chicks(pullets). More room to roam and have fun with.
Regarding the roosting branch. I placed a dowel rod in the brooder when they we about 3 weeks old. All 4 of them thought the dowel rod was a pillow to lay their heads on not their feet at night. It was too cute seeing them do that. We see them roost some, usually they cuddle together on the floor like when they were babies. You would think at almost 8 weeks old they would all roost on the branch and the bigger dowel rod placed in their coop. Nope!!!! No matter what we showed them, (we placed each on the roost over a period of 3-4 days) every morning we have what we call the "chickie" (pullet) mosh pit. On the floor cuddling, either doubled up on each other, next to each other, underneath, over top, sideways, you name it, a chicken version of "twister". Some positions are downright laughable. Usually their heads were on top of each others back. They do not want a lamp on, I did a few nights ago and the ladies let me know in no uncertain terms(squawking and loud peeping) to "turn it off"!! I thought maybe they were not warm enough, guess they are. I even placed a couple of empty 2 liter plastic bottle on the floor, to get them to use the roost. Those silly chickens found a way to have a cuddling session, they were all on top the the plastic bottles(not the roost)doing chickie mosh pit. I gave up,, took the bottles out. I am worrying way too much. Each night they put themselves to bed in a mosh pit. I know they are happy as we do not hear anything except a sleeping peeping/snoring chicken. Now they do jockey for floor position, and it is funny to watch them settle in for the evening, as it looks like a chicken dance of sorts. One pullet wants this spot and just sit on top of the other one(go figure.) A few squawks, squeals, them all is quite for the evening. They will play on the roost during the day, like 1 or 2 at a time but that is it for now.
Our coop/run is under renovations, planned 2 roost about 4-5ft long each and the same height about 6-12 off the floor(wings are clipped. Matter of necessity, wished I did not have to do it)
I have given up trying to impose my idea of what chicken should be doing and how to do it. If they want to sleep on the floor in a mosh pit, even though they have a roosting place, well, they will do what they want to do(they are a bit stubborn) can't force them. If the chickies(pullets) are: 1. warm, safe, fed, access to water, and their environment is clean, then I am doing all I can for them. They get very vocal when something in their environment is not what it should be(even if it i 2am). They do not get vocal at night when they form their mosh pit, they enjoy the cuddling and companionship(bonding thing maybe?). I have noticed when their surroundings have the above things, I do not hear any loud unhappy squawks, peeps from of them. They are so quite sometimes that I forget I have chickens in the house. I do not know if this is normal, I figure quite = ladies are happy and content. They do everything else chickens do, scratch, take a dust bath, taught them about live worms, moths etc. I will leave them be, they know better what they want to do. These ladies can be stubborn when they want to. As a new chicken raiser I don't want to do anything wrong in their raising, I hope I am doing the right thing.
