HELP - Roosting Problem!

[klohman]

I have 6 young chickens (3 months old) and 13 older chickens. The chickens are living together as well as can be expected after only a short period together. They range well together, minimal pecking order chaos, and get to their turns to eat. The only issue is at dusk when they roost. We have one long roost across the back of our coop. It is about 5 ft. tall and basically a 2x4. Even when I put the young chickens up on it, at least a foot away from the others, they won't stay. They all jump down and huddle in one corner of the coop and peep and peep and peep. I finally put our dog crate coop back in their with their small roost. Is the roost too big for them? Is it a pecking order thing? I want them to be comfortable. Please help if you can explain this behavior.

 

[Folly's place]

Just give them more time, and maybe another roost. Mary

 

[aart]

5 feet is pretty high..how big is your coop, is there room to fly down from that height without crashing into a wall?

You need about a foot of roost length per bird for them to get settled in.

Agrees time and maybe another lower roost would work.

 

[klohman]

We are going to put up a smaller roost this afternoon - so we will see how that works!