Sleeping on henhouse floor instead of the roost

[jahphotogal]

I so appreciate all the advice I"ve gotten here, as a new chicken person.

My chicks are coming up on 8 weeks old, I believe. When they were still in a box in my living room, they liked to roost on a little ladder I'd made out of half-inch pvc pipe. They've outgrown that now, so I made a new one out of 1x3s - they have a ladder in the main run part of the coop (tractor) and one long one that goes across the loft (henhouse) part. They seem very comfortable sitting on the 1x3s - it's the right side for their feet at the moment (I may replace it with 2x4s when they're fully grown) but they still prefer to sleep in a heap on the floor of the loft. Is this OK?

(They also still don't go inside by themselves -they gather on the table on my patio and wait for me to put them to bed!)

 

[devora]

You moved them from your living room to a loft? Lucky birds!

Assuming you have them in a coop, if you put them on the roost they will sleep there. Takes a few days.

 

[1muttsfan]

Many young birds prefer to sleep in a group on the floor. They will move to the perches when a little older.

Leave them shut inside the coop for a few days so that they learn how to put themselves to bed inside.

 

[Bellurd]

Mine used to huddle up next to the tractor when they were younger to go to sleep and I would have to put them in one by one. I finally kept them locked up in there for 3 days and they figured it out. They still slept on the ground inside coop for a few weeks but eventually, they all started using the roost. They're 14 weeks old now and every evening I hear them squabbling over position on the top roost.

Good luck!