Perching,

[Blue Man Dan.]

Hi there, i have 4 ex battery hens, i have had them for almost 3 weeks and am having trouble getting them to perch, one does it ok by herself but i have to manually put the others on each night or they sleep in the nest box and it fills up with muck! Once they are on they do stay there so they must like it!

any ideas how long they will take?


Dan

 

[smarsh]

cover the nest box openings in the evening. this will force them to look for another place.

 

[Blue Man Dan.]

i already do that and they just sleep on the floor!

 

[team guava pastry]

Our girls do the same thing. One will get up onthe perch, the other perfers to sit on the floor of the coop. The other either sit on the box, or on the floor or sometimes get up on the perch.

I've given up, so when I'm home at night, I'll go out and put them all on the perch.

 

[possumqueen]

Try setting a 2x4 on the floor, narrow side up, and brace it so it doesn't wobble. Then all they have to do it step up on it. After a while you can raise it an inch at a time as they get used to it. And you may still have to go out and set them on it for a while.

Those accursed battery cages just suck the life out of any chicken's ability to act like a chicken. It's fun getting them back to being a chicken again -- absolutely NOTHING like watching a chicken take her first dust bath, seeing her expression the first time that cool dirt gets to her itchy skin -- but you need to be really patient about some things. It's more than worth it, though.