New chickens raised by me won't roost

[Weazerdogg]

Hello. I raised 4 chicks this Spring, to go with the 3 older hens (3 years old) I have after my 3 oldsters passed away this past winter. Got a rooster and 3 hens. Kept them in the house from March until first week of June, then acclimated them to the other 3 and there weren't any early issues, the 3 established hens didn't give them much grief, much less than they got 3 years ago when I had introduced them to the 3 older ones I had at the time. They've barely given the newbies any grief, maybe a peck or two when they are all gathered around some food, but not much else. But the 4 newbies, including the rooster, are still huddling together on the floor of the coop like they did when in the house as chicks, and the couple of times I've tried to put them on a roost they've freaked right out. There is one main beam about 3 feet off the ground that the older hens roost together on, but I've got a ladder roost going up to that, so if they didn't want to be next to the older hens they could do that, but they don't. I had put a couple little roosts, that I had lying around from previous caged pet birds, in their cage when they were chicks and I'd find them on those once in awhile but they don't at all now. Will they start roosting before Winter rolls around? I was hoping they'd all roost together by winter time, and the other hens would huddle around my previous rooster who passed. Really odd, like I said, the 3 older ones I have now roosted on their own without any issues and the older hens I had at the time gave them much more grief.

Thanks.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

How old is the group that's piling on the floor at night?

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old is the group that's piling on the floor at night?

Good question.

 

[Weazerdogg]

How old is the group that's piling on the floor at night?

22 weeks old. They go in the coop about an hour or 2 after the 3 older ones, but until recently it was still light out. NY here, so its still not dark when they go in the coop but starting to get dusk. Older hens go in the coop around 6-7pm. Younger group goes inside around 8pm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined! I didn't notice before.

I was not expecting that, I thought they'd be much younger. Are they laying yet? When they start laying is when they often are allowed to join the pecking order and not be bullied.

From your description I cannot tell how much room they have to roost away from the older hens. When you tried putting them on the roost they may have been frightened of the older hens if they were close.

Can they fly? Some chickens like Silkies or Frizzles that cannot fly sometimes are happy to sleep on the floor instead of roost.

It will not hurt them to sleep on the floor. Silkies and such sometimes do. But when I saw their age I was a bit surprised they are not roosting somewhere. I'm glad it is not in your nests.

 

[Beau plus penny]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined! I didn't notice before.

I was not expecting that, I thought they'd be much younger. Are they laying yet? When they start laying is when they often are allowed to join the pecking order and not be bullied.

From your description I cannot tell how much room they have to roost away from the older hens. When you tried putting them on the roost they may have been frightened of the older hens if they were close.

Can they fly? Some chickens like Silkies or Frizzles that cannot fly sometimes are happy to sleep on the floor instead of roost.

It will not hurt them to sleep on the floor. Silkies and such sometimes do. But when I saw their age I was a bit surprised they are not roosting somewhere. I'm glad it is not in your nests.

our 26 week old hens and rooster lay on the floor some of the roost but idk im not really worried about them

 

[Weazerdogg]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined! I didn't notice before.

I was not expecting that, I thought they'd be much younger. Are they laying yet? When they start laying is when they often are allowed to join the pecking order and not be bullied.

From your description I cannot tell how much room they have to roost away from the older hens. When you tried putting them on the roost they may have been frightened of the older hens if they were close.

Can they fly? Some chickens like Silkies or Frizzles that cannot fly sometimes are happy to sleep on the floor instead of roost.

It will not hurt them to sleep on the floor. Silkies and such sometimes do. But when I saw their age I was a bit surprised they are not roosting somewhere. I'm glad it is not in your nests.

Yes, they are laying. Another somewhat odd thing (compared to the other hens I got 3 years ago) they are laying a lot of double yolks, and I got a triple yolk last week, which I've read is really rare. Anyways, the main roost is like 8-10 feet long, so plenty of room for all of them as I've had up to 7 roost together on it before, as well as there is a higher spot that 2 of my oldsters used to go up to, and one of the 3 year olds will roost up there once in awhile by herself now that the oldsters are gone. The ladder roost I have that goes up the the main roost has 4 bars, each about 3 feet long, basically 4 inches, 10 inches, maybe a foot and a half, and 2 feet off the ground, with the main roost maybe a little over 3 feet off the ground. So there is plenty of space for 6 hens and a rooster. When I tried to put them on the ladder roost I was using the second "rung" which would be far enough away from the established hens that they couldn't reach them if they wanted without jumping down. I had put up a light for awhile in case that was the reason but didn't make a difference so after about a week I removed it. The 3 older hens are really not giving them any grief, a lot less grief than they got for sure, I watched everyone eat around a tub I put some stuff in this morning and no one was pecking or chasing anyone away. Haven't really seen any of the new ones fly on their own. No, they aren't trying to sleep in the nests. I mean, they'll probably be fine on the floor huddling together for the winter, but I also got them to replace the 3 old ones who passed over the winter (the Rhode Island Red was 9 years old, rooster and other hen not so sure as they were given to me but when the friend of my Mom's who gave them to me heard he had just passed away in January said "Wow, he was still alive? He was old!") so hoped they'd all roost together to help keep each other warm. This is only my 3rd set of chickens raised from chicks, and the other 2 sets roosted on their own without anything being put in their cages as chicks. In fact, the first group (which the RIR was the last to go) were allowed to free range and just started roosting on a board in the barn by themselves. Had to shut everyone in though after a raccoon got 3 of that first group of 5 when they were just a bit over a year old :-(

 

[Weazerdogg]

I even put a large branch with other offshoot branches that broke off a locust tree in the run about a month and a half ago, to see if they'd sit on it during the day (what I did when I got the rooster and hens from my Mom's friend, they didn't want to go in the coop with what was just 2 other hens at the time, I'd wait until they roosted on the branch after dark and go out and put them in the coop until they started to go in on their own) but I've never seen any of the little buggers even try, LOL! Just seems kinda odd, they are Sussexes, two of the hens are the black/white and the other hen and rooster the yellow variety.