Sleeping Arrangements

[CATRAY44]

I have 2 insulated dog houses, one attached to the run and one in the run. I have hardware cloth covering the whole thing (that was a real fun project, lol). I have 3 standard sized pullets/hens and 3 bantum hens (2 chochin, 1 MilleFluer D'uucle.) They all want to pile into 1 house for the night. Night after night I try to break this up by placing 3 chickens in each house. They do not seem to get the plan... Each house could hold 4 standard sized hens. Should I worry? Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I wouldn't worry, especially when winter set in they will need extra body warmth. They are all use to milling around together during the day so its natural they want to roost together. It's just for the nights and shouldn't cause a problem unless they start picking feathers.

 

[CATRAY44]

Thank you! I usually trust the instincts the Lord gave them, but just wanted to make sure they would be ok during the winter (condensation issues.)

 

[pixiechick]

They probably think there is safety in numbers! I would love to see some photos of this arrangement. I am considering seperate housing for some of mine who don't enjoy each others company so much.

 

[Chirpy]

I don't think you have to worry if it's only for night time. Now, having said that, if you ever have a time that they have to be locked inside one of those houses for an extended length of time (due to bad weather) you may have serious issues with feather pecking. So, ideally, you are on the right track to get them to roost in the two separate houses.

The best way to get them to do that is to lock them up inside their appropriate house for a week or so. Then, they will almost always see that as home and go back to that specific place to roost at night.

You do you a problem with that though in that those houses are so small. I don't know if you can safely lock them up inside for a long enough time to get them to understand where their appropriate homes are.

I've seen other posters here who had a flock of chickens that were together in the run or free ranging all day but each flock knew where their own hen house was to go back to roost at each night. So, it can be done.

 

[CATRAY44]

I will try to post pictures later. I guess if we have a winter storm, I can separate them into the 2 houses.