Roosting questions......Worried about a chicken!

[ponygal12]

Hi everyone!

I have a few questions about the roosts in our coops. My 6 chickens are about 10 and 11 weeks old. We just moved them into the coop on Sunday so they're kinda new to the whole roost thing. We have two roosts, one is just below 5' high and the other is about 2' high. They are situated so the lower one dooesn't get pooped on by the chickens on the higher one. Now to the questions! Only one chicken sleeps on the very top roost and I think she is the head of the flock. Will she fine up there? Or will she get lonely? Then four of them sleep on the lower roost together. I'm not so worried about them, lol. And finally we have the loner who sleeps by herself in the cornner. She is definitely the lowest in the flock and I'm very concerned about her. I try putting her on the lower roost, but she jumps off. When I put her on the higher one, she can't get down. I'm stuck on what to do? Should I keep helping her? Or should I just let her be? I think she can't see out of one eye....not positive though.

All help is appreaciated!

Thanks

Emily

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'd let them be for now. It took a couple of my chickens about a week to figure out the roosting thing. They preferred to sleep in a pile on the floor. You can try going out when it's dark and putting the chicken on the roost if she doesn't pick it up in a few days. The others will also start roosting higher (if there's room) once they're used to the concept.

 

[ponygal12]

Okay,I'll leave her be. Thanks for the help!

 

[Qi Chicken]

I would let them be too. They'll need to work it out between themselves in the long run anyway. Plus if you put the loner in the corner on the high roost and she can't see well she might fly into something, get hurt or get pecked by the big one. She is probably safer in the corner even if she is a little lonely.

 

[WisconsinChickenWhisperer]

My chicks have been out in the coop for 2 weeks now, and this is the first night that every single one of them is on the roost. Last night 13 were on the top roost, and 4 were sleeping on the floor. I have 3 tiers on my roost, so it's not like there wasn't plenty of room to get it figured out. I think that they have finally worked it out amongst themselves.

 

[aduplantis]

Let them be. They will go on the roost and learn what to do soon. My chickens would sleep in the corner of their coop and finally at like a week ago they all roost. My chickens just made 10 weeks old on Monday.

 

[LastChanceChickenDance]

What is the usual age for chickens to start sleeping on the roost on their own? Ours are 13 weeks old and still sleeping in a huddle on the floor. They've been in their house for 3 weeks now. (From the indoor cardboard box.) Their roost is about 18 inches off the floor. We have a mix of welsummer, 3 types of wyandottes and silkies. All but the silkies jump up there during the day.

Will they eventually decide to roost on their own, or will we have to "teach" them?

 

[The Tinman]

I started to put a roost in the brooder(6 inches high) when mine were 2 weeks old. As they got older I made higher roost for them.When I moved them to the coop(6weeks) I had the roost at 2 ft but nobody used them. They would roost between the studs on the 1/4 plywood I had put up so I made the roost 4ft high and I put a ramp so they would not get hurt jumping down. I also have one who like to sleep in the chimney flue. It about 5ft high. I put wire mesh in it so she can not fall inside.

 

[gryeyes]

My theory is that the daytime roosting is practice, so they learn balance and confidence. After all, they have to manage to roost WHILE ASLEEP. They eventually figger out how to do it on their own. About 18 weeks seemed to be when most of mine managed to roost up on the roost bar at night.

 

[BrewedInNh]

We did something similar to Tinman. When they were about 3 weeks old we put pieces of cord wood in the brooder for them to climb on, and to have something different to peck and scratch. We would replace the piece of wood with a new one each week to keep it interesting and clean. After the first few days some started roosting on the wood to sleep. It wasn't long before they all got the hang of it.

When we moved them to the coop they took to the roost the very first night. It's 2 ft high, with a ramp so they don't have to do a crash landing in the morning. The funniest thing is the 10 minutes of pushing and shoving each night as they reclaim their favorite spots.