Pullets Sleeping in Trees: Can't Solve the Situation

[saving grace]

I've been having this problem for months now and I've been doing everything in my power to get it to stop, but nothing has worked. All 7 of my EE pullets love to sleep in the evergreens, way up high. I can get all but one down and she goes so high there's nothing I can do. Now that it's getting cold I need to fix this so she doesn't freeze at night! Also she's easy prey for predators.

Here's what I've tried:

Clipping wings: I clipped one side and it didn't affect her flight at all.

Encouraging them into the coop with food: the pullets know I am trying to trick them into the coop, so that doesn't work.

Getting them into the coop before they roost: these EEs are SO elusive and are SO hard catch. It takes at least half an hour to get them all in there. Not an option.

And a million other small things that didn't work.

I thought that now that it was getting cold they would stop roosting in the trees and come inside to get warm, but nope. The older hens can be quite rude at night getting settled in, so the pullets don't even want to go in there, which makes everything so tough. I even built a larger roosting area to fix the problem, but it didn't change anything. I feel like I've tried everything and I'm starting to get very frustrated!

What should I do?

 

[NatJ]

All 7 of my EE pullets love to sleep in the evergreens, way up high. I can get all but one down and she goes so high there's nothing I can do. Now that it's getting cold I need to fix this so she doesn't freeze at night!

How cold does it get?
A chicken roosting in a nice dense evergreen will probably do BETTER than a chicken in many styles of chicken coops. She's got protection from wind, rain, and snow, and I'm sure the tree has great ventilation!

Also she's easy prey for predators.

I agree that is a concern (although she obviously hasn't been eaten yet.)

Getting them into the coop before they roost: these EEs are SO elusive and are SO hard catch. It takes at least half an hour to get them all in there. Not an option.

I would probably spend the time to get them all in once, and then shut them in for a while (like the two weeks Lacy Duckwing suggested.)

I thought that now that it was getting cold they would stop roosting in the trees and come inside to get warm, but nope.

Chicken feathers are as good as a down coat, and evergreen trees provide good shelter.
Also, chickens are creatures of habit.

So I would not expect them to change just because the weather got cooler.

The older hens can be quite rude at night getting settled in, so the pullets don't even want to go in there, which makes everything so tough. I even built a larger roosting area to fix the problem, but it didn't change anything. I feel like I've tried everything and I'm starting to get very frustrated!

Pictures of the coop sometimes help us make suggestions.

Other than locking them in for two weeks, some possibilities I can think of are:

I assume the hens get the "best" roost (usually the highest one), but do you have a lower roost? If there is a roost the hens do not want, the pullets might be able to roost in peace there.

Are your roosts close together so a hen on one roost can peck a pullet on another roost? If you have 3 or more roosts, you might try taking out the middle one, to make it harder to reach from one to another. Or if you have two roosts, you might move them further apart.

Are you able to make a second coop? Or divide the current coop so the hens have one part and the pullets have a different part?

Have you noticed whether all the hens pick on the pullets, or if certain hens are doing most of the pecking? If one or two hens are the biggest bullies, you could try putting them in a dog crate or similar pen for a few days. That might let the pullets form the habit of roosting in the coop, and they might continue even after you release the bully hens again. (Maybe, because nothing is certain with chickens.)

The situation might improve if you just leave things the way they are until the pullets start laying eggs, because the pullets will probably become less timid then. But that does not always work, and you obviously have good reasons for wanting to solve this sooner rather than later!

How big is the coop and how many total chickens do you have? A common guideline is 4 square feet of floorspace in the coop per chicken, and one linear foot of roost per chicken, but some problems go away when you provide a lot more space than that-- so removing some hens, or expanding the coop, or building a separate coop all have the potential to help.

If your chickens cannot all be comfortable at roosting time, you might also have problems in the winter if bad weather makes them stay inside on some days. This is a bigger concern in some climates than others, so I do now know whether it will be an issue for you.

 

[NatJ]

It sounds like you have been very thorough in addressing the points we could come up with, so probably the only thing left is to break the pullets' habit of roosting in the trees by locking them in for a while

Your idea of a curtain to divide the roost might help too, but probably isn't enough by itself.

 

[ChickenLeg]

Id skip a day or 2 of feeding them then feed them in the late afternoon inside the coop area. Start only feeding them in the evening inside the coop and locking them in after they go inside for a few weeks. Should be enough to start a new routine then you can go back to your old way of feeding. If they revert to sleeping in trees then might be best to keep on with the evening feedings if all else fails

 

[NatJ]

Id skip a day or 2 of feeding them then feed them in the late afternoon inside the coop area. Start only feeding them in the evening inside the coop and locking them in after they go inside for a few weeks. Should be enough to start a new routine then you can go back to your old way of feeding. If they revert to sleeping in trees then might be best to keep on with the evening feedings if all else fails

Or see if they like wet food. Most chickens like it enough to come running when they see you bring it.

So serving wet food inside the coop in the evening could lure them all in without needing to take away food during the day.

If you distribute the wet food in several dishes, or spread it out along a board, the pullets should be able to get their share without the hens bothering them too much. That makes it easier to get them all inside at once and close the door.

 

[bobbi-j]

I had some pullets earlier this fall that insisted on roosting in the trees. I broke them by going out right before roost time and chasing them away from the trees. A couple of them insisted on going into the area, so I employed my dog. (The chickens were still on the ground at this point.) My dog loves to play fetch, so I threw the ball toward where the chickens were, and when the dog went after the ball, he scared the chickens out of the grove. A couple of nights of that, and the chickens decided they’d rather go in the coop than be harassed.

Is there a way to build a smaller attached run to your coop?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

They might be doing this BECAUSE of the older hens.

Have you tried locking them up in the coop for two weeks straight yet? Have you tried setting them up in a covered run? Clip both wings of the Primary feathers. If you clipped the feathers you see when they're walking around, you've clipped the wrong feathers.

 

[3KillerBs]

They need to be taught to think of the coop as their proper home, which means locking them inside for a time.

 

[saving grace]

Id skip a day or 2 of feeding them then feed them in the late afternoon inside the coop area. Start only feeding them in the evening inside the coop and locking them in after they go inside for a few weeks. Should be enough to start a new routine then you can go back to your old way of feeding. If they revert to sleeping in trees then might be best to keep on with the evening feedings if all else fails

That sounds like a pretty good plan and I'll implement it tomorrow. I love these chickens to death, but oh boy, can they be frustrating!

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I hope these pullets finally stop roosting in the trees.

 

[STACEYH]

You start at the trunk , then lift the netting around the bottom limbs going as high up as you can. The birds won't have a limb low enough to get on.