roost question....

[mamahen1980]

How do I keep my flock from trying to dog pile on their roost? Each night I have to put them up cause are newly out in coop but they pile on each other making some mad and start war. How to fix problem would be helpful thank you.

 

[GuppyTJ]

Can you describe your roost? How long is it? How wide is it? How many chickens do you have? How old are they?

I ask because you need about 8 to 10 inches or so per regular sized chicken. Chickens, even young ones, can be especially rough on each other on the roost.

Here's a picture of mine. It's made of 2 x 4's with the 4 inch side what they walk on. It's plenty long enough but they crowd together on the left side. As they climb up, they spend about 15 minutes fighting for position, all trying to get to the far left. They try to climb under each other, working their way to the left. I think this is the advantage of having a 4 inch wide roost, it gives them space to walk under each other to get around each other. Why they all want the left side, I don't know. Lately, a few of them have resigned themselves to roosting on the right most side, away from the others. I had a lower roost, but they never used it so I took it out. And you can see from the picture that on the right, there are sort of wide stairs so they could roost there on these lower rungs if they wanted to. But none of them do so far.

So, make sure you have plenty of roost space. Also, I may be wrong (I'm still new to this too) but they seem to quiet down and stop fighting so hard when I've finished closing the door and put them to bed. It's not at all dark in there at this time but somehow, it seems to signal to them that wherever they are, is good enough to settle there for the night.




Hope this helps,
Guppy

 

[GuppyTJ]

One other point you made about "having to put them up each night." Are you saying that you have to put them up ON the roost? If this is what you meant, you don't have to do that. Just let them sleep on the ground. Younger chicks will find a place where they feel safest (usually a corner) and sleep together there. Mine didn't get up on the roost until about 9 weeks old. I put them in the coop at 6 weeks old so for about 3 weeks, the slept on the straw on the ground. Chickens will get up on the roost when they're ready. It's not necessary (and maybe not such a good idea) to make them roost when they're not ready by placing them up there. Again, it might be 8 weeks or 15 weeks or whatever but they'll get on the roost when they're ready.

One other point (you probably know this) is make sure there is nothing higher in the coop than the roost. They'll try to roost on whatever is highest. Also, take down or close off your nest boxes until they're about 16 or so weeks old so they don't try to sleep in them. Sleeping in nest boxes is a bad habit and hard to break once they start doing it.

OR... by "having to put them up each night," do you mean you have to put them in the coop when night comes? If that was what you meant, chickens need to imprint on their home and once they do this, they'll go there automatically to sleep. In other words, they put themselves to bed in the coop and all you have to do is close the door and lock them in safely for the night. You don't have to chase them in or individually pick them up and put them into the coop. They just go in when it starts getting toward dusk.

The way to get them to do this is to lock them in the coop for about a week. It seems like a long time but once you do this, you never have to chase them in at night, they just go in themselves.

I moved my chickens from the brooder in my house to their coop at 6 weeks old. I locked them in the coop for that entire first week of being in the coop. Now, they just put themselves to bed every night. Or, if I want them to go to bed earlier so I can lock them in and not worry about predators (they free range), I just go in the coop and do chores and they see me in there and just follow me in and start climbing up on the roost. After about 15 minutes of some climbing up on the roost, some messing around, they all are up on the roost. But I never have to chase any to get them into the coop or carry them in or any of that.

Not sure if these things are useful to you but I re-read your original post so thought to add it.
Guppy

 

[mamahen1980]

thank you for them help. I have two roost about three front of ground. The flock are from ten weeks to six weeks old and I place some on roost and other hop up on their own. The ones that go up alone start the fights to have the roost alone and then they all crawl under others.

 

[mamahen1980]

sorry about auto correction
3 feet of ground 3 inches wide

 

[mamahen1980]

8 foot long on both sides of coop. 31 total chickens

 

[GuppyTJ]

OK, that helps. So, you have 16 total feet of roost space for 31 chickens. Because they're only 10 to 6 weeks old, they're probably not full grown so you probably currently have enough space. Will you keep all 31 chickens or are some roosters which you'll make for the dinner table or give away? If you'll have 31 chickens ongoing, it would seem you *might* be tight in the future based on the guideline of 8 to 10 inches per chicken of roost space. This is just a guideline, however. But I suppose when you get to that point, you can deal with it then if it becomes an issue. Maybe someone with more chickens can comment as I don't have experience with this many chickens.

I would suggest not putting the ones who do not get up on the roost on their own up there. If they're not ready, it'll be just that much harder on them. They'll get up there when they're ready. 3 feet off the ground is not high at all so even the 6 week old chicks can get up there if they want. If you doubt, worry about this, given them a little step to hop on below and in front of the roost. In the mean time until they're ready, let them sleep together on the ground, the ones who want to do it that way.

There's not much else you can do that I know of, based on what I've read and experienced, that you haven't already done, to avoid having them pile on each other. You have 2 roosts so those that are being roughed up on the roost can choose to use the other one. And you put them both at the same height but it sounds like there is a preference for one over the other? In my (albeit limited) experience, the ones who get too roughed up eventually choose to roost elsewhere and you've given them that option with your second roost. In my case, I have a small group of chicks who roost on the other side of the roost (the right side in my picture) as I guess they finally decided it's not worth it to fight the others for the "prime" roost space. Why any particular piece of roost board is considered prime, only the chickens understand.

Guppy

 

[mamahen1980]

Thank you for helping. No I'm not keeping all. Why is 3 feet not enough building is only 6 feet tall?

 

[GuppyTJ]

No, sorry, I didn't mean to imply or say that 3 feet off the ground isn't high enough. I was saying that 3 feet isn't too high for them to fly up to get to for even the younger ones. In other words, if the younger ones WANTED to get on the roost, they would. But they don't so just let them sleep on the ground if that's what they choose.

A 3 foot high roost is perfectly fine IF, the roost is higher than everything else in the coop, especially the nest boxes. Chickens will roost (meaning sleep) on whatever is highest that they can get on top of. You don't want them sleeping in your nest boxes because they'll poop (they do a lot, if not most of their pooping at night) in the nest boxes and get them messy and eventually, get your eggs dirty and/or broken.

Guppy

 

[mamahen1980]

Oh alright. And they love jumping on my head to be higher lol. I'm getting little more of them jumping up on roost by themselves everyday. The bickering last for ten minutes now so I just let them do their thing since your response. Thank you