I'm confused...

[Alley]

Okay, I have 4 girls. Two of the girls are a year old and the other 2 are 4 months old. My two older girls have always roosted on the roost and my two babies roost in the nesting box. But now one of my older girls is going into the nesting box with the babies and her sister is squaking because she won't come to roost. Is this a pecking order thing?

 

[Emzyyy]

Maybe she decided she likes the new babies better or the nesting box better. I would cover up the nesting boxes at night maybe with a old sheet or tarp or something so they have to roost together.

 

[Alley]

Thanks, good idea! At what age do they start roosting?

 

[chseeads]

Mine are 5 weeks old and we've been working on roosting for over a week.

They were all still just sleeping in a dog pile on the floor, but I started out putting them all up on the roosts one night when it got dark and they began to get the hang of it... Maybe 5 went up themselves the next night....7 the next....12 after that....16....

Couple nights ago all but 7 (out of 58) were on the roost....last night there was a minor setback with 12 not on the roost....lol.... I put everybody up manually that doesn't get up there themselves.

 

[Alley]

So, I guess I need to show them the roosts. They all sit on the roosts during the day but not at night. My White Leghorn pecks at them so they tend to retreat to the nestsing box for safety.

Thanks again for the advice...

 

[chseeads]

Yeah, it helps them get in the hang of things if you put them where you want them at night.