silkie chicks not roosting???

[mgharris30]

I'm not sure if this is the right spot or not, but my chicks won't go in their coop at night. I have to crawl on the ground and basically chase them, catch them, and put them up.
I have three Easter Eggers and two silkies. Last night, one of the EE hens FLEW (skipped the ladder altogether) into the coop and called the others. The others called back, but none went up with her. So, she flew back down. After a half hour, and encroaching darkness, I finally put them up myself.
So, here are my questions-- should I make a spot for the silkies to roost on the ground? I can use a crate, but it won't be elevated at all. Is that ok? Will all the chicks want an on the ground coop or will the EEs finally go up together and leave the Silkies behind??

Oh, they are all roughly 8 weeks. I got them all at the same time.

 

[Smileybans]

How high up are your roosts? Silkies can’t fly up that high and I found they don’t really want to. They prefer to jump rather than fly. Maybe use the crate to allow the silkies to jump onto the roost. They also might not be trained to roost yet. You may have to help them out a bit. Placing them onto the roosts at night will help them realize where it is they should be sleeping.

 

[mgharris30]

I think my coop is too high for the silkies. We have turned a crate into a ground level "home" for now. We will try it this week and see if they take to it. The hubs is going to have to build something for them. Bless his heart.

 

[mgharris30]

The silkie that I think is my female does NOT want to be off the ground. She’s ok in my lap, but gets upset if I stand up. She’s happy in the coop, but does not want on the roosts, even though they are about 2 inches off the poop tray right now. (I’ll move them up as my flock grows. Only one of my 5 mixed flock likes to be high ).
so, I think she sleeps on the poop tray. Is this a bad thing?? I have about 3 inches of pine shavings on the poop tray— that I rake around about every other day. My chicks are about 8 weeks old.

 

[Smileybans]

It’s not ideal. As chickens sleep they poop and she could get pooped on or just be sitting her poo all night. That being said she is still young. It might take a couple weeks of you putting her onto the roost for her to get that that’s where she’s supposed to sleep. Are you placing her on the roosts at night and she’s just jumping off?

I have 8 week old chicks that still pile at night but will use the roosts during the day. I think the windows in their coop bothers them. They might not like how open it feels at night. I’m going to put up curtains and see if that makes a difference.

 

[mgharris30]

It’s not ideal. As chickens sleep they poop and she could get pooped on or just be sitting her poo all night. That being said she is still young. It might take a couple weeks of you putting her onto the roost for her to get that that’s where she’s supposed to sleep. Are you placing her on the roosts at night and she’s just jumping off?

I have 8 week old chicks that still pile at night but will use the roosts during the day. I think the windows in their coop bothers them. They might not like how open it feels at night. I’m going to put up curtains and see if that makes a difference.

I put her on and she jumps off. The others jump off and on by themselves. We need to move on of the roost bars higher (rained all weekend so nothing got done in the coop). But we will keep one of them low. A couple of my EEs like to be higher.