So I have these three lovely hens... all about 4 months old; 2 Orpingtons and 1 Americauna. All very special and very well loved. As of tonight, I just finished building a new Laughing Chickens coop for them since they were rapidly outgrowing the grow out coop I had purchased for them when I got them as babies.
I had noticed that in their old coop (it was a mini-coop like the sort you get for bantams), they refused to use the roosts at night. They'd go in okay at dusk, but would only huddle in a darkened corner in one of the nesting boxes and peep sadly until the AM.
Now that they have their new coop, I went around and popped them into it at dusk (It's new and scary and they didn't like the ladder so I had to help them up) and it's pretty much the same deal. In fact, this new coop has them panicking and scared and giving baby bird distress cries (which are breaking my heart to hear). It wasn't a pretty scene tonight, but I was hoping that at least they would hop up on their roost and start to behave like real chickens. Well, true to form they are mashed into a nesting box like a soft pile of chicken feathers waiting until daylight and their chance to break out again.
Does anyone know if they will ever roost? Is 4 months too young? I have a roost a few inches off the floor level in both the old coop and the new and have seen them sitting on these low roosts in the daylight, just not at night.
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Jocelyn in Antioch
I had noticed that in their old coop (it was a mini-coop like the sort you get for bantams), they refused to use the roosts at night. They'd go in okay at dusk, but would only huddle in a darkened corner in one of the nesting boxes and peep sadly until the AM.
Now that they have their new coop, I went around and popped them into it at dusk (It's new and scary and they didn't like the ladder so I had to help them up) and it's pretty much the same deal. In fact, this new coop has them panicking and scared and giving baby bird distress cries (which are breaking my heart to hear). It wasn't a pretty scene tonight, but I was hoping that at least they would hop up on their roost and start to behave like real chickens. Well, true to form they are mashed into a nesting box like a soft pile of chicken feathers waiting until daylight and their chance to break out again.
Does anyone know if they will ever roost? Is 4 months too young? I have a roost a few inches off the floor level in both the old coop and the new and have seen them sitting on these low roosts in the daylight, just not at night.
--
Jocelyn in Antioch
