Hens not roosting

[farmerpookie]

I purchased 25 two year old hens about three weeks ago. I never really checked on them at night. Last night I did however, and they are not using their roosts. They all were asleep on the top of the nesting boxes. Should I start moving them to the roosts nightly? Or is this habit fine to be left? I've never had hens who didn't naturally roost at night

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

They are/were "roosting" - they just weren't doing so on the roost. They will roost on just about any surface they can, including the tops of nest boxes, on shelves, tops of doors, etc. Whether this location is acceptable to you or not is for you to decide. They do expel a LOT of waste during the roosted hours, so if you are okay with the accumulation of waste and/or the amount of cleaning the area will need if you permit the use of the box top for roosting it isn't necessarily a "bad" habit....sleeping *in* the boxes would be a different story as the waste would foul the nests and lead to dirty eggs. Any area you don't want them to use as a roosting spot needs to be made unattractive as a roosting spot - for the tops of nest boxes it can easily be done by installing a "roof" that slants at a 45+ degree angle instead of having the flat, open shelf top that it sounds like you currently have. Also, keep in mind that they are drawn to roost in the highest spot they can.
Does the top of the nest box set higher than the highest roost you have in the coop?

 

[junebuggena]

They also like wide, flat roosts. If your roost bars are only an inch or two wide, they might not be very comfortable on them, and that would be why they prefer the nest box. The roosts should be several inches higher than the tops of the nest boxes and at least 3 or 4 inches wide.

 

[Percheron chick]

Are x battery hens? They might not know how to roost yet. They'll figure it out

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

When we first converted my current coop from a feed/tack room I had forgotten about a shelf we had installed during it's previous use (had used to store various stuff).....until the first night I went out and had a moment of panic because there were no birds in the run *and* no birds in the coop (at first glance) - fortunately, Nugget (BO) can't help herself and gave them all up by clucking down to me from their new roost of choice, the shelf that they had realized they could easily fly up and over to from the roosts on the other side of the room. I wouldn't have minded them roosting up there, but the poop was an issue - the shelf was well over my head so getting up there to clean it off would have been quite the production and not one I wished to have to go through when there were perfectly good roosts (with a poop board, no less) there for them to use -- the shelf came down, problem solved.

 

[farmerpookie]

Thanks guys for your replies! I've since added a roof to the top of my nesting boxes as Ol' Grey Mare had suggested. But now more have started sleeping in the nesting boxes which has created quite the mess. I may end up adding a hinged door over the nesting boxes I close every night when I lock them in at night. Are you able to 'train' chickens lol if every night I move them from the boxes to the roosts would they eventually get it?

 

[junebuggena]

They should eventually get the hang of it, but you need to make sure the roosts are wide enough for their feet.