Orpington won't roost on the roosts!

[FelixFelicis]

Hi My Orpington hen is refusing to sleep on the roosts and instead sleeps in the nest boxes which are on the floor of the coop The first roost is 15 inches from the floor and the second is about 22 inches. She had no problem jumping up onto my shoulder when I was sat on top of the nest boxes yesterday, which was much higher than the roosts, so it's not like she can't get up there! My welsummers are all roosting on the top roost and tbh I think the problem might be that she's a bit nervous around them. They've only been together for a couple of days, do you think she will get used to them and join them up there? Or should I do something to encourage her to sleep up there? her feathers around her bottom are getting all filthy from her sleeping in her own poo all night

 

[aart]

If it's only been a few days since you added the Orp to the other 3(?), yes, she's nervous.

Adding a single bird can be the most difficult integration.......
....hopefully the existing birds are not picking on the new one too badly,
probably not as at least they allow her into the coop.


Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful. ....take what applies and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[TalkALittle]

If I'm not wrong, all 4 of the birds are new to the coop but the Welsummers are not new to each other. They already have sorted out their pecking order. It will take time for the Orp to find her place in the order. Like Aart says, make sure she isn't getting picked on and follow his advice, treating the Welsummers as the existing flock and the Orp as a newcomer.

 

[FelixFelicis]

Thanks guys!

 

[FelixFelicis]

Quick update, all the birds are now sleeping on the roosts and seem to have the pecking order established after just a few days! Thanks for the help