Hi guys my chickens seem to be sleeping sitting on the hay at the bottom of the cutch, not on the roosting bar. is this a problem and how do i solve it>??? Thanks
HOw old are they? I never bothered placing them up myself, they all figured it out on their own and let them do it. I have a range of ages and when I put them all in the coop the youngest slept in the nesting boxes until they "felt" old enough to be on the roosts, then they just jumped up with the other girls! I just le nature take it's course. Are any of them on the roosts yet? Som people will go out when their hens usually migrate back into the coop for the night and will physically place them on the roost. So you can do that too. I had one hen who was LOW on the pecking order and would get pushed off any roost she was on and I found her under the roost a few nights. THEN I put her on the roost and shooed the others away from being mean to her so she could stay up. Just took a couple nights of doing this for the others to let he say up. Good luck!
After dark, disturb them enough to make a couple squawk or squawl. Hold a bird or two upside or grab them by head and hold on briefly while they struggle. The scaring may promote their moving to another location, usually higher. If not desired location, then repeat. Mr. Owl has by doing similar, helped me shift roosting of several birds from exposed locations to roosts I constructed.
