Help! Roosting problems after renovation today

[Kaitie09]

Today we completely revamped the roosting situation in our coop. We added a poop board, and moved the 2 roosts to 1 long one. MAJOR problem now! The chickens can not hop up to the roost, and then they are flying at the wall trying to get back to their old roosts. The ones that got on the roost are all huddled up in the corner where their old one used to be.

where they are all at right now

the old roosting area

the new one

I think for tonight they will be sleeping in the nesting boxes, but we need help!

 

[ddmiddle7]

I'm a complete noob to all this but have been doing a ton of reading here on BYC. I bet they will eventually get the hang of it. You could try putting them up there themselves when they go to sleep. I have read of people putting their chickens on the roost at night to add them to a flock...maybe they will wake up and think "WHOA!!! how'd I get up here...not too bad, better then sleeping on the floor."

 

[Wildflower_VA]

I have found that chickens don't like change. I revamped my roost system when my Australorps were about 9 weeks old. They not only wouldn't try the new roost, they slept outside the coop the first two nights. The next day, you would have thought the new roost was their idea. They even stayed inside for most of the day roosting.

 

[bryan99705]

Chicken aren't dumb but they can sure be hard headed!!! Guess that pert of the fun