Need help encouraging them to roost at night

[aart]

Raised floor/roosting area: 2.5 X 4 ft (10 sq. ft)

This is actually your 'coop'... as it's the only enclosed area.
They'll end up sleeping in that nest.
I'd move the nest down below, and add a cover to it, and put an actual roost in this area. Once those birds grow up it may get crowded in there.

Curious.....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Cryss]

This is actually your 'coop'... as it's the only enclosed area.
They'll end up sleeping in that nest.
I'd move the nest down below, and add a cover to it, and put an actual roost in this area. Once those birds grow up it may get crowded in there.

Curious.....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!
View attachment 1849435

Good point. I didn't catch that.
Coop and roost are not the same thing. Roost is the actual perch they sleep on which is inside the coop. Nest is not included in coup dimensions. Your downstairs area is not coop, it's a covered run. To roost they need to go upstairs to the coop.

 

[dgriffi3]

Sorry, I'm in Tampa, Florida. I set this account up years ago and only recently started using it again.

I'll move the nesting boxes, thanks. In the long run, I really prefer a run that I can walk in. We used to use an A-frame coop in a walk-in run, but the heat and humidity just destroys wood here so our old coop is no longer functioning and the run is massively overgrown. (We were using a narrow stretch of our yard on the side of our house.) When our neighbors offered us this it seemed like a great way to get started again--though I"ll admit I hadn't realized how much work I would need to put into it to get is secure!

By next year, I hope to connect this smaller run and coop with our larger walk-in.

 

[Criticalicious]

Once I was watching 6 week old chicks figuring out to go to bed at night. Five of six were inside and the last one was pitifully cheeping - where is everybody? I'm all alone!!! Waaahh! Then one came back outside about halfway down the ramp so she could see him and then they both went inside. He came back out to get her, what a nice friend!