my chickens wont roost

[lowerowe]

hope someone can help, i have 2 isa browns and 2 australorps. and the 2 austra's will roost but my isa's wont. they keep going into the nest box and sleeping there. i take them out everynight and put them on roost and they stay. next night back in nest box or on floor. i am worried because i've been told they shouldnt sit on thier poo. to make matters worse, the only isa that is laying is no longr laying in the nest box now only on floor.my other isa is over 26 weeks old and still not laying.

 

[eeiko321]

Quote:
OK. if you want your hen to lay in a specific spot, what you do is, you place a fake egg or a golf ball in the nesting box.
that makes them think the spot is safe...they will lay there and works every time.

also, try not to jump into conclusions about one of them not laying. because sometimes they all lay in the one spot and you dunno who's who's, like my younger Isa brown always lays its egg where the older hen roosts or sleep. the older girl doesn't mind that at all. at first i thought the young one didn't lay as I've witnessed the older one lay before, i separated them and found separate eggs.
sometimes if all of them don't lay, there could be a health issue.

lastly, don't fret about them not roosting...some chicks don't like to roost on a high area.
it is said that jungle fowls or fowls in the wild roosts on trees naturally. my hens sleep on the floor on the straw in the coop.

its fine, let them be... as long as its safe... in aust we don't have many predators.

 

[Cheryl]

Not to hijacke, but while on the subject do silkies roost?

 

[beerguzzler]

None of my birds would use the roost. All 16 of them would try to cram into the 4 nesting boxes for the night. I raised my roost to about 12 inches above the nesting boxes, leveled the roost out, and put golf balls in the nests. They kicked the balls out and still used the nesting boxes for the night. Someone here then suggested I close in the their roost (I live in Houston Texas and don't have a closed in coop). That did the trick for me. By the second night, all of them were using the roost.

My suggestion would be post some pictures and maybe some more well informed (smarter than me) folks can chime in to help you.

Here is the thread that the forum members helped me on....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102259

As for not laying yet, I am still without eggs. Everyone just says....."Keep waiting, they will come."

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
It has to be on a pretty low roost. Because of the lack of structure to their wing feathers they can't fly-can't grab any air.

 

[digitS']

Lowerowe, I think you are doing the right thing by moving them at night. Clean out the nest box, make it as comfy as possible (with nest egg), then deny them the use of it overnight!

If you have to put something over the nest or in it that the chickens can't get around - do that. Remove the covering first thing in the morning.

Allowing them to use the nestbox for roosting is creating another bad habit - laying eggs on the floor.

Steve

 

[Mortimer]

I have the same problem with mine, they were all piling up on top of the nestbox each night. Our nestboxes are wire frame and all their poop was falling through onto the top row of nestboxes. I put a board on top of the nestbox and that solved the poop problem, but the board quickly became covered in poo so I built a roost for them, but by that time they were used to the board and never used it. I tried picking them up & placing on the roost at night but by morning they were always in a pile on top of the nestboxes again.

This has only been a problem with my Delawares, the RIR mixes I just bought have been roosting every night since they came home (on a second roost I built).

Now that colder weather has come I've placed a heat lamp right above the roost, the Delawares have began using the roost now 'cause it's warmer under the lamp. Hopefully the habit will stick once the weather gets warm again!

 

[lowerowe]

well i'm still out there every night placing them out of the box onto a perch, blocking the nest box till after they are asleep. last night they were ALL in the box....... i think their staging a coo....p!

 

[lowerowe]

still in nest box. one month now.
this is ridiculous

i give up

 

[henjoy]

We had some young pullets who always wanted to sleep in the nest boxes. We, too, tried moving them each night with no results. Finally, in desperation, we waited until evening after the older hens had laid all of their eggs and then covered the front of the nest boxes with a light tarp. We took the tarp off after dark when everyone was settled so the older hens could lay in the nest boxes bright and early. It took about a week but now everybody is on the roost and out of the nest boxes. Note to Cheryl: Our Silkies roost on a 3 foot high roost but they have a lower rung (about 18 inches) that they use to get there.