Piling Up And Help Me

ggrap

Songster
12 Years
Jun 5, 2007
330
10
156
Colorado
I am pretty experienced with chickens. I am so sad that I just went and found 2 dead pullets under a pile up. I have never had much of a problem with this, but this year is bad. It seems they don't want to go in the coop and I have found that I have to round them up. And they keep piling on top of each other.

I have a night light in there and still they pile on each other.

Help.
 
How old are they and can you take pics? Possibly someone could offer a few suggestions to help if they saw your set-up.
 
There is always a reason for their behavior, perhaps something in the coop has them spooked.

AL
 
How old are they?
Do you have a roost bar?
If so, have you been putting them on it at night?
What's the temp there, and why the nightlight?
What kind of bedding?
Ammonia level? You have to get down to their level to check.

And as Al said, there must be a reason they won't go in the coop.
 
They are 2 months old, and I have over 100 of them, so putting them on a roost is not an option. They have room to spread out, but aren't. I think they are afraid of the dark, which is why I put a night light in there, but I may need something brighter. I also think they are afraid of the older pullets, and I have them mixed now. They move to separate sides at night. But this happened a few times earlier when the other side wasn't open yet.

It has been warm here, but I have a dryer vent type fan circulating the air in there. I don't think it is ammonia, and the bedding is pine shavings.

I think I will close the other side in the afternoon, and put a a brighter light in there to bring them in from outside. Hopefully I can wean them off the light and get them mixed with the others, they may just be too young.

The older pullets are 3 months old.

Thanks,
 
Okay yeah, I see why you don't put each one on the roost at night!
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Only a month apart is good. It might take them a while to get used to each other. Maybe the bright light will get them in the coop first? Hard to say in such a unique situation.

Good luck, hope they figure it out soon.
 
Social issues/aggression in a flock can definitely cause the lower ranked birds to choose to sleep outside.

You can also try bribing them into the coop at night, for snacks. Most chickens are pretty easily trained that way. As long as you have the housing worked out so that they won't be attacked when they get inside, they should go in for you. Lure them in before they get settled in for the night, outside. Once they are sleeping outside in the dark, they usually don't want to move. Doing it about the time they would normally go in for the night is a great time to start their training.
 
what are your night temps? I have some the same age outside and on the cooler nights they are always in a pile, but I only have about 20. I have a heat lamp but the bulb makes it too hot for them
hmm.png
Maybe they are just a little too cool and in their attempts to get warm they got smothered because there are so many of them?
 

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