Roosting on nesting boxes..

[MamaRedd77]

My 4 Novogen hens have been moved to the "big girl coop" with my 6 month old red sex link hens. Now they have been together a week or so and the YOUNGER birds are roosting on the milk crate nesting boxes. I put them in the coop at night and they go to the roosting poles and jump up. When I put the older birds in the younger birds move to the top nesting boxes and stay there all night until time be let out. Why are they doing this?Also can some one please tell me their age. I will attach photos. Thanks!!

 

[birdlover2]

My 4 Novogen hens have been moved to the "big girl coop" with my 6 month old red sex link hens. Now they have been together a week or so and the YOUNGER birds are roosting on the milk crate nesting boxes. I put them in the coop at night and they go to the roosting poles and jump up. When I put the older birds in the younger birds move to the top nesting boxes and stay there all night until time be let out. Why are they doing this?Also can some one please tell me their age. I will attach photos. Thanks!!View attachment 2263258View attachment 2263258

They're probably doing this because the older ones are dominant and thus the younger don't feel comfortable roosting on the same perch as them. Are the older ones hen-pecking and such? It's normal for them to scuffle to sort out who's dominant, and the younger ones may be nervous they're gonna get pecked, or they may be doing it out of respect and caution. Newer birds being introduced to the flock often perch lower than resident birds, and they should eventually get used to eachother and perch at the same level...but they could remain on the outs for a long time and when pecking order is established the submissive ones may continue to want to perch lower than the dominants. In my mother's coop she has two perches, one high and one low. This tends to help with introducing new birds, since they can simply perch on the lower branch to avoid the resident birds. This is my take, anyways.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Also can some one please tell me their age.

I'm not familiar with the breed, but I'll give a rough guess of 14.5 weeks old.
Previous post nailed it. The older hens are dominant and the young girls are submissive.
Here's my Pullets ISA Browns at 12 weeks.

GC

 

[MamaRedd77]

I'm not familiar with the breed, but I'll give a rough guess of 14.5 weeks old.
Previous post nailed it. The older hens are dominant and the young girls are submissive.
Here's my Pullets ISA Browns at 12 weeks.View attachment 2263312
GC

Thanks!! I am new to having chickens and aging them I am not good at. Yeah, I have figured them out as being the subs and my older hens are DEFINITELY the boss hens.