my girls are not roosting at night

[chickenmommy25]

hi everyone! i have 11 chickens and they are not roosting at night. we go and check on them and they are all in a pile cuddled up with each other on the floor!! what should i do???

i'm afraid it is our fault for this. because of the horrible weather we had this spring it took us a bit longer to build the coop than we imagined it would. because of that, the girls were inside the house until it was built. sleeping all cuddled together was how they slept inside the house.

how do i "break" them of this habit and get them to roost?? i'm at a loss here.................

 

[Southern Ground]

You don't mention how old they are, but younger birds will sleep as you describe. Don't worry-when they're ready they'll roost!

 

[nannie]

how far is their roost off the floor.we put one in about 1 ft off floor then another one that is about 4 ft. they will make the move when they are ready.mined did.

 

[chickenmommy25]

Thanks for letting me know to not worry! i was afraid that we had "done" this to them! they are about 8 weeks or so old.

 

[soggycrunchy]

I was coming to check on this very topic. Ours are 11 weeks old and sleep all cuddled.

 

[MossyoakLane]

Mine did not start roosting until they were 16-20 weeks or so. I would not worry yet. Some roost early...others are late bloomers

 

[soggycrunchy]

Mine did not start roosting until they were 16-20 weeks or so. I would not worry yet. Some roost early...others are late bloomers

Thank you!

 

[chickenmommy25]

they finally started roosting!! i swear they knew i posted this question to you all because 2 DAYS later, they started roosting!! silly girls!!

thanks, everyone!