I have 17 9 week old birds. They are all bantams, Cochins, Brahmas and New Hampshire Reds. There is a roost available in the coop but none of them are using it. Are they too young to roost?s the roost too high (about 40")? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
I had the same issue with ALL of my birds. They are all standard size though. The roost was three feet off the ground, but I made a little ramp going up it. Now at 14 weeks they just fly up and down it. But they didn't really start using it till about 2 weeks ago. It started out with one or two, then a few more. Then on the 3rd night I just went out and picked them up and placed them on the Roost. From there out they just kept using it.
Gotta train those silly chicks. Place each one on the roost after dark. Do this for a week, and they'll do it themselves afterward.
It has taken some of mine a few weeks to get up on the roost once I put them out in the coop. I would say that you should have roost every foot or so off the ground so they can us the bottom ones till they get use to them. I have some 6 week old chicks that still cuddle in a "chicky" pile every night and it is in the 70° outside where they are. I did have to go out after dark for a time to put them on the roost for a few nights with the first batch that I put out in my coop.
i was lucky enough to have older birds who already knew to roost on perches. my chicks copied the older birds. either that or they just wanted to steel heat off them by cuddling up to them at night
Placing them on the roost at night is very good advice. Worked well for us and took only a few nights. Three figured it out the second night in the coop and now they all fight to get to the highest one. Pretty much instinct will eventually kick in and they will roost by themselves even if you don't help them.
I brooded in the coop with roosts available. They all wanted to pile in the corners so I let them. I let nature take it's course. Eventually they all figured it out and now all are roosting.
