New chicks on roost

[Youngestof6]

i have 4 hens that are 3 months old. They have shared the coop with the older existing flock for about a month now but they won't roost with them at night. I think they are intimidated by the older ones. How do I get them together? Sometimes they sleep in the nesting boxes or just on the bedding but never on the roosts.

 

[rIrs roost]

i have 4 hens that are 3 months old. They have shared the coop with the older existing flock for about a month now but they won't roost with them at night. I think they are intimidated by the older ones. How do I get them together? Sometimes they sleep in the nesting boxes or just on the bedding but never on the roosts.

maybe try putting them on the roost at night

 

[azygous]

Yes, they are intimidated by the older chickens. This is normal.

You are doing them no favors by allowing them to get into a bad habit of sleeping in the nest boxes. Close off the boxes each night before roosting time. It's much more difficult to break chickens of a bad habit than to prevent them from developing it in the first place.

You can help your chicks learn to roost by providing them a safe space on the perch away from the older girls. You can do this by moving the youngsters to one end far from the older chickens or by adding a perch. A perch higher than the older perch will be very attractive to the young ones.

If space is a problem, you can provide safety for the chicks to roost by putting a partition on the perch so the older ones can't bother the young ones. I recently did this for a single chick I have that was just learning to roost. It can make all the difference.

Place your chicks on the perch close together for security and hold your hand lightly on their backs until they calm down. Touching their head with a light downward pressure will help them further calm down and get into the mood to sleep. Making "shhing" noises further quiets and calms and soothes. They will be roosting on their own in a matter of just a couple nights of this.

 

[Youngestof6]

I really appreciate your response. I will try to be more dedicated with blocking off the nesting boxes though my make do fencing doesn't always hold up. I will put more thought into a better construction. Space is limited but I may rig up a temporary roost for them to start with. Thanks so much!