Pullets not roosting?

[chicksurreal]

The scale is tipping in favor of the roost! Soon there will be more roosting than huddling, then it should go quicker...thanks to your perseverance, Chicksurreal. Yay seconded!

Yes!

Thanks, I will persevere! Lol!

There were 15 on the roost tonight when I went out to check on them, I put 4 more on the roost with gentle persuasion and they all stayed!!! So happy for them, I think they're getting it!.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Great job, way to stay at it and get er done!

 

[chicksurreal]

Great job, way to stay at it and get er done!

Thanks! It's a labor of love, for sure.

 

[aart]

There were 15 on the roost tonight when I went out to check on them, I put 4 more on the roost with gentle persuasion and they all stayed!!! So happy for them, I think they're getting it!.

<thumbsup> Congrats....patience, persistence and practice = progress!

 

[azygous]

An important thing to remember when teaching youngsters to roost on a perch is to place them on it as close together as possible. If they're smashed up against each other on the perch, it simulates the feeling of closeness they are after when they bunch together on the floor. If you happen to be able to identify the most timid of the bunch, the one that refuses to even try staying on the perch, place that chick next to the wall and then place another chick up against it very close, then the next and the next all as close as possible.

Also, by providing a small "play perch" in the brooder, a couple inches off the floor, they learn early to use it. By age six weeks, almost all of my chicks are roosting in the big coop. At that age, it doesn't really matter how high the perch is because they are still light and it's an easy matter to fly up there and down with considerable ease.

As the majority of the crew choose to roost on the perch, the stragglers will be more apt to want to do it, too.

 

[chicksurreal]

<thumbsup> Congrats....patience, persistence and practice = progress!

The three "P's" and some assistance from nice people on BYC! Thanks very much for your help!

 

[chicksurreal]

An important thing to remember when teaching youngsters to roost on a perch is to place them on it as close together as possible. If they're smashed up against each other on the perch, it simulates the feeling of closeness they are after when they bunch together on the floor. If you happen to be able to identify the most timid of the bunch, the one that refuses to even try staying on the perch, place that chick next to the wall and then place another chick up against it very close, then the next and the next all as close as possible.

Also, by providing a small "play perch" in the brooder, a couple inches off the floor, they learn early to use it. By age six weeks, almost all of my chicks are roosting in the big coop. At that age, it doesn't really matter how high the perch is because they are still light and it's an easy matter to fly up there and down with considerable ease.

As the majority of the crew choose to roost on the perch, the stragglers will be more apt to want to do it, too.

Thanks! I never thought about putting them close together.

We did give them play perches from the time they were about 2 weeks old. That's why I was surprised to see most of them still bunching in the corner. They used to climb all over the branches jumping over to the roosts and back. It seems like the trouble started the first night we took the heat lamp (light) out of the coop. They grew up from day one in there, so we didn't move them, just took the light out. I don't know if it freaked them out to be in the dark all of a sudden or what, but they never seemed to settle down from that day on. I think they were 8 weeks old when we took the red heat lamp out, now they're almost 16 weeks old.

Hopefully, they are getting the hang of it now. Thanks very much for all the great advice!

 

[chicksurreal]

Well, chaos in the coop tonight.

I went out there at about 8:00 P.M. to see who was on a roost and I heard lots of noise, loud noise. I thought maybe something had gotten into the coop, so I ran over there and yanked the door open. No predators, just pullets rebelling.

Maybe 6 on the roosts and the rest were flocking into the corner as much as possible (we blocked off the actual corner that they were getting in). Not sure what's going on, but I just went about trying to put them back on roosts for a bit, just calmly putting them on roosts and shushing them. Some stayed and some jumped down. Not sure what set them off, but I will just keep trying to help them get into the habit of roosting.

It's weird because I counted 16 on roosts at dusk. Something obviously happened after dark, but I have no idea what it might have been...

 

[azygous]

One thing I've noticed about my latest batch of youngsters is that they often are late in going inside to roost, and when that happens, roosting is often stressful. When dark overtakes their ability to see well enough to hop up onto the perch, a couple (there are five in this group of youngsters) will end up trying to hunker down on the floor somewhere. Just as human children have a lot to learn about stuff, so do chicken youngsters. Timing is one of these things.

Are there any windows in your coop? If so, where are they in relation to the perch? Perhaps a cat or owl appeared outside and spooked the bunch.

Those are the two reasons I can come up with for the chaos.

 

[chicksurreal]

One thing I've noticed about my latest batch of youngsters is that they often are late in going inside to roost, and when that happens, roosting is often stressful. When dark overtakes their ability to see well enough to hop up onto the perch, a couple (there are five in this group of youngsters) will end up trying to hunker down on the floor somewhere. Just as human children have a lot to learn about stuff, so do chicken youngsters. Timing is one of these things.

Are there any windows in your coop? If so, where are they in relation to the perch? Perhaps a cat or owl appeared outside and spooked the bunch.

Those are the two reasons I can come up with for the chaos.

We do have windows, but they're covered right now due to rainy, windy weather. They can't see anything outside, but it's possible they heard something moving around outside the run.

I think you're right, these pullets go in a bit later than our other flock and it's a bit darker than is comfortable for them to see well. If they would get on the roosts in front of the door, they would be able to see, but they insist on going towards the corner where it's darker, probably out of habit. Hopefully last night was just a glitch.