Not roosting at 8 weeks?

[maizey]

My 3 barred rock chicks are in their coop and run full time now at 8 weeks. The coop is elevated and the floor is about 3 feet off the ground. I put in a "make shift" roost that i put together with a few logs from the wood pile until hubby can finish putting the roosts and nest boxes in. Its not very tall, maybe 9 inches off the floor of the coop. The permanant one will be higher of course. I noticed last night though that they are still cuddled up in the corner of the coop on the straw. Are they just comfortable with the hight of the coop and maybe they dont need a roost? Do they not like the one I made for some reason or are they just not into roosting yet? I put in a ton of straw and it really is quite coushy.. I would have taken a nap in it... would they prefer the coushy straw to roosting?

 

[Nostalchic]

Lots of folks worry so much about their youngsters not roosting - as I did! - but really, don't! They will huddle together on the floor, and your best efforts to get them to roost (ladders, placing them up there, begging, pleading, sleepless nights...) will come to naught, and then one day, or over the course of a week or so, they'll just do it. I don't know why, and I don't know why not (why they wouldn't before) but they will. Just chill and let them do their chicken thing... they will. Really. Keep your roosts higher than the nests so that they don't learn to roost in the nest (yucky), otherwise, hands off is just fine.

 

[maizey]

thanks... i just didn't want to ingrain any bad chicken habits into their feathery little minds with my lack of chicken knowledge... good to know I probably wont screw them up too bad

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

My chickens hatched in June, and I still have 2 that refuse to roost (they do sleep in the nest boxes, unfortunately, even though the roosts are higher). And honestly? Several of them just started using the roosts in the past week. Eight weeks is still really young. If they aren't roosting at 15 or 20, work on putting them on the roosts at bedtime. (And even then, be careful--I have a hen that has been limping for a couple of days, starting the morning after I put her up on our lowest roost. I think she may have fallen off.

)

 

[mychookschick]

I have some 3 and 5 month old Buff Orps who STILL want to sit in the nest boxes!! I think that they might get picked on when they sit with the "Big Girls"...

 

[swimmer]

Mine didn't roost for the longest time either. I'm thinking it was about 15 weeks of age they started to figure it out. Up until then, they would pile up on top of each other. I would go out at night and try to put them on their roost, but come morning they were all on the floor again. I gave up and one night they figured it out. I still have one that sleeps on the floor. She is 25 weeks. But I figure if she likes it there, so be it. One thing I did do was block off the nest boxes because they wanted to sleep in those. Give them time, they might take awhile, but they'll roost.

 

[pgpoultry]

So maybe I take the record. At least 5 of my 14 month old Brahmas don't perch. They are big (maybe rather fat) hens who always hold their 'mothers' meeting' on the floor and form a carpet at one end of the coop. I initially thought that the perch was not high enough for them as they are such big birds, but other Brahmas are perching OK in the same pen. They just seem to like the floor and the coop is big enough for them not to be pooped on from above.