How my chickens sleep

[new2chickens09]

All 6 of my chickens sleep in one box in the chicken coop even though they have plenty of room to sleep including a perch. It all started when I had 3 baby chicks and kept them in a huge pet carrier in a fenced in section of my backyard and 2 of them were attacked by a preditor in the middle of the night. I managed to save the 3rd one. I protected her till she got big enough to move to the chicken coop and got 2 more baby chicks so she wouldn't be lonely. When the babies were old enough they all started to sleep in one of the boxes in the coop. I later got 3 more chickens about 5 months old and they all slept in the box. In fact, they still do. 5 are hens and one a rooster. I wanted a rooster to protect them from future preditors (so far so good) but my question is it safe for them to all sleep in the same box? I thought this was odd that they cram in one box.My friend has chickens and they sleep on a perch.

 

[TigerLilly]

It sounds like this is their way of feeling safe & comfortable.

 

[chuckzoo]

I close off my nesting box at night because two of them started to sleep in there.

They may be doing it out of habit or for warmth.

 

[new2chickens09]

Is it safe for them to sleep like that? We keep it clean. Can we teach them to sleep in other parts of the coop? We are planning on letting them go broody and I worry they will run out of room in the box.

 

[dkosh]

They like to cuddle.

The only problem i can see with that is that the next box may get dirtier than if they roosted. Which then in turn will make dirty eggs.

 

[Sorin]

As far as teaching them to sleep somewhere else it can be done. All mine were two months old when I got them and they had never roosted on a perch before. The very first night all 5 were crammed onto the feeder!

So every night for almost 3 weeks when I went out to lock them up I physically placed each one on the roost and they eventually got the hint and started doing it on their own.

 

[ginormous chicken]

When my chickens were young, they did the exact same thing you described. They would curl up together and squash together in a bundle! They didn't even know how to go up to the roosting area!

Slowly, they figured out what the perch was for. I think they naturally just hang out on the coop perch. Good luck!