The Girls Just aren't using the Roosts

[otowner98]

I have 7, 15 week old hens, housed in the back half of my existing shed (run finished today!). For roosts, I put in two 2x3 boards - first at about 24" and the second at about 30", running diagonally in one of the corners. About 8' horizontal in total. Whenever I check on them after dark, they are all laying in the bedding, up against a low wall (14") I put up to keep the bedding in on the interior wall which is chicken wire stapled to studs. They just don't seem interested in the roosts. Is this something they get into later, or did I miss the boat by not getting those roosts up until they were about 9-10 weeks old?

Thanks

 

[LarryPQ]

No--not all chickens roost early on. They might not get into roosting until they start to lay.

 

[kidcody]

Young chickens seem to like to lay on the floor, its not tell they are older do they get into roosting

 

[bloom_ss]

Quote:
Glad to hear this! Mine are 7 weeks and still lay in a pile on the floor. I was wondering if mine just didn't like the roosts...lol

 

[ll]

You can "train" them to use the roosts by going into the coop after they've settled for the night and gently moving them up onto the roosts. This may take several nights/attempts. Good luck!

 

[otowner98]

Thanks, everyone! I'll try to night-time move tonight. Heck, I had to go in and put them through the door once I had the run done (not to mention the fun of getting in there on my knees and showing them it work both ways, so they'd go get some water later on).

 

[train2110]

Have they always been in the shed? When we had our chicks in a brooder, we put two small sticks on the floor. After a week, we raised then about an inch off the bedding. Every week or so we would raise them another inch, until they where about five inches off the bedding. They loved to climb and jump on them and then they started to sit during the day on them. At about 10 weeks they where roosting on them at night in their brooder. When they moved to the coop with the rest of the flock, they where right up on the roosts with the rest.

You may want to put some just a few inches off the ground to them used to climbing and sitting. Then remove when they get the hang of it.

Hope that helps!

 

[gale65]

Are the boards placed with the 2" side up (which is probably actually 1.5") or the 3" (2.5") up? If it's the skinny side maybe they'd like the wider one better. We have a 2 x 4 with the skinny side up and ours all roost on it fine but maybe yours prefer a wider roost?

 

[bootshats]

I have 11 chickens and 1 rooster. My problem is that the some of the chickens are roosting on the laying nests. Not all of my chickens are laying yet but the three that are will only use one nest. I am afraid my coop is too small or designed wrong. Any suggestions on solvong this problem? JMJ

 

[gale65]

Quote:
How big is your coop? Do you have any pictures of the design? Is your roost higher than your nest boxes? They will generally roost on the highest spot.