Roosting - an acquired skill?

[mightybeckster]

First time chicken keeper here. I have a little flock of 4 hens (Lohmanns) that I bought from a chicken farm when they were 20 weeks old. They've been with us for just over 3 weeks now. Is it possible that they don't know how to roost or that veggie scraps are food? Every morning I toss whatever veggie/fruit scraps we have (that are Google-approved for chickens) into their run and it seems like the scraps are all still there at the end of the day. Is it also possible that they don't know how to roost? They all seem to cram into one little corner of their nesting box and sleep in a pile even though I have a roosting bar (2x4) available for them in their coop with a ladder. (I'll be covering up the insulation in the next couple of weeks.) The main inside of the coop is 4 feet by 4 feet. I have various thick branches in their run available to them (one as a swing that is a only about 4 inches off the ground and the others mounted as perches) but they NEVER hop/sit on them. I plan on installing a few more perches for them in their run (in fat branch form and in 2x4 form). Am I missing something here? Do I need to train them to use these things?? I'm so baffled!

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Roosting is an acquired skill a good portion of the time. Few breeds will naturally roost without training. Your chickens probably slept on the ground and never ate scraps at their previous residence, so you'll have to teach them. I would place them on the roosting area at dusk until they begin doing it naturally

Mother hens also pick up and drop food to teach their young that something is edible. You could mimic this with your hand while they're hungry and they might figure it out

 

[Mrs. K]

I think that if you pulled your roost in the run away from the side a bit more, that might help.

If you can reach them, put them on the roost at night, from the pile. Thing is, they will stay cleaner on the roost. All night long they poop, and it can fall away from them.

I am pretty sure they will eventually figure it out, but I would have thought they would have by 20 weeks. Same thing with the vegetable scraps - try mixing them with scratch.

Mrs K

 

[Penpal]

try a better ramp up to the roost. Add a couple of more rungs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Roosting is an instinctive behavior for the vast majority of chicks. My chicks hatched in an incubator and shipped from a hatchery instinctively roost when they are ready with no adults around and no teaching. With most of mine that is around 10 to 12 weeks of age but I've had some start as young as 5 weeks and some wait a lot longer but typically around 10 to 12 weeks. By roosting I mean sleeping on them overnight. They will often play by perching on the roosts during the day. At the hatchery, those eggs were probably laid by hens that never roosted in their life yet their chick instinctively roost.

I've had broody hens take their chicks to the roost at two weeks of age. The chicks flew up there when the broody told them to. Yes they flew at 2 weeks but I have chicks like Australorp, Sussex, and Delaware, not Silkies, Frizzles, and other breeds that cannot fly. I've also had broody hens that wean their chicks before they take them to the roost. These are example of why I say that you do not get guarantees with living animals. Anything can happen.

Is it possible that they don't know how to roost or that veggie scraps are food?

My guess is that they were raised without an opportunity to roost so they have been trained to not roost. I'd go out at dark after it is too dark for them to see much and move them to the roost. Be consistent, do that every night and they should soon get the message.

Your coop is 4 feet wide so that roost is plenty long enough. How far is it off of the back wall. I give mine a minimum of 12" so they have plenty of room to face either way, toward the wall or away from it. It looks like it is about two feet off of the coop floor. It is higher than the nests so it is high enough. Mine could pretty much jump that high with minimal wing flapping if they wanted to. Your ladder will not hurt anything so leave it. The reason to train them is so they want to get up there. If they want to, they will get up there.

On the food scraps, they have never learned to eat them. That is not unusual when raised in a coop and never being able to forage. My suggestion is to continue to offer them (but do not leave them out there overnight. They could attract predators and especially rodents.)

I'll tell a story to help illustrate that. One time I gathered a yogurt cup of corn ear worms when preparing to can corn from my garden. I dumped those worms in a pile near about fifteen 10-week-old chicks. Step by step, inch by inch, the chicks slowly approached that pile. A worm wiggled! Run away! Run away! But not very far. Step by step, inch by inch, the chicks slowly approached that pile again. A worm wiggled! Run away! Run away! This repeated 4 or 5 times before one brave cockerel got close enough to grab a worm. That pile was gone within 30 seconds, including some playing keep-away and chasing.

All it will take is one of your pullets trying a bite, then they will all enjoy it. But it may take a while before one takes that first bite. Be patient and they will get there.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Roosting is an instinctive behavior for the vast majority of chicks.

Most chicken breeds lack even the instinct for reproduction, a trait absolutely essential for the existence of all forms of life. If not for humans intentionally collecting, hatching and raising their young they would be extinct within a single generation. From an evolutionary perspective they're broken and in my experience these "broken" chickens commonly exhibit other broken behaviors, such as sleeping on the ground until a human or more natural breed show them how to roost as their wild ancestors did

When I began with chickens my junglefowl and gamefowl roosted naturally with zero effort required. Half of my RIR watched them and copied their behavior, and they quickly began roosting also. However half of the RIR slept in a big pile on the ground

Junglefowl, gamefowl and landraces have the roosting instinct intact. Some production chickens may lack it, but they may still be capable of learning. Some unfortunate souls seem to lack both the instinct to roost and the ability to learn

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree that some production breeds like Leghorns and RIR's have had the broodiness bred out of them. It is rare that one will go broody, but occasionally one will. Not all hens of breeds that often go broody will actually go broody, but many will. In my opinion the person that selects which ones get to breed (selective breeding) has a lot to do with whether any hen from any breed will go broody. Broodiness is something that can be bred into or out of a strain of any breed but you have to have one that does go broody to breed from if that is what you want. I breed for broodiness, it is not that hard if you have a broody hen to start with.

It is an interesting thought that you can breed the instinct to roost out of a stain of chickens. It is probably possible of you actively select for that trait. I've never had any problems with my hatchery quality Sussex, Orpington, Australorp, Delaware, or Rocks roosting on their own, but I give them time to mature to that point. I don't see many posts on here where older chickens won't roost, other than some Silkies and such that can't fly. There are some, mainly where the chicks are still very young or adults are bullying them off of the roosts but that should sort it out in time. I've read a lot of posts where the hatchery quality production breeds fight over the best roosting spots.

You are dealing with living animals so anything so anything can happen but I'm unwilling to believe that the instinct to roost has been bred out of most chickens. That's partly from what I've seen and to a large part from posts I've read on this forum. I do believe you have to give young chicks time though.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with you Ridgerunner. I generally do.

I too, have had a lot of hatchery birds and all of mine have roosted. Interestingly enough, my very first broody years ago, was a breed that was not suppose to go broody. And currently I have a production red bird setting. I bought her as a day old chick and put her under Gramma Feathers who was broody at the time.

I wonder if being raised by a broody has an influence?

But back to the OP questions on roosting - those are not chicks, they are 20 weeks old. I have brooder raised chicks, without older hens, and eventually all of mine have learned to roost well before 20 weeks. I have had broody hens that get their chicks to roost with the flock at 5-6 weeks of age.

It is odd that they are that old and not roosting, but I think if she/he puts them on the roost, they will figure it out.

Mrs K

 

[Yardmom]

I have seen posts where the hens that had been previously raised in cages did not roost. I think that not having the opportunity to roost when they were younger has affected their instinct to roost. It may take a little extra time and effort to get these pullets to roost, but placing them on the roost each night will teach them to roost on their own.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

We got our three when they were 7 weeks old. The first evening, I found them on the roof of their coop and put them inside, where they slept on the floor in a cuddle puddle. The next night, they put themselves into the coop and onto the roosts, and they’ve done so every night since then.

Now they’re 19 weeks old, and within the last week, all three have squatted for me, not by my invitation, I assure you.

Let’s see, what else: they’ve figured how to scratch and dig in their run, they’ve figured how to dust bathe, one figured how to give a unique, very soft growl at an aerial threat and the other two froze immediately, they’ve figured how to forage when they’re “yard-ranging.”

It’s absurd to say that modern chickens have had all their necessary instincts bred out of them and that they’d die in one generation. I agree that many production breeds have had broodiness bred out, as it interferes with their treatment as egg-laying machines. (They also generally die young.)

Anyway, OP’s hens probably missed the opportunity to roost at the normal instinctive time because of prior terrible keeping practices. It doesn’t mean the instinct isn’t there. OP will just have to assume a bit of a broody role for a while.