They won't use it!

[HobbyChickener]

Well I built it but they didn't come. I made the birds a new roosting spot. It is taller and more weather friendly than that other one but the birds won't use it. They are still more willing to be outside than inside, but why? I put treats on it to get them up there but it hasn't helped. I didn't however make them a ladder up to it like the previous one. Suggestions?

 

[rooster-red]

If your chickens are anything like mine I bet they would use it if they have a ladder.

 

[HobbyChickener]

I might try that tomorrow, lazy buggers!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I had to bring my girls in and PUT them on the new roost once I finally had a coop (they spent the summer outside, under tarps, and were quite happy). The new roost is only about 42" tall, and their outside roost was about 5' tall.

It took me lowering their outside roost to 36", and 4 days of re-installing them after dark, and then they started sleeping inside on their own.

Then I put a straw bale wind-break in their chunnel, and it's about 5' tall. They went back to roosting on it at night. Only when I dropped it to 36" tall did they go back to roosting on the 42" roost in the coop.

I guess they like to be high! LOL!

 

[dbjay417]

I am dealing with a handful of rebels myself.

I moved the coop from an old structure, to a new, better one last week. Still a young trio prefer to sleep scattered about the yard, rather than with the rest of the birds in the new structure. One sleeps on the floor in the old coop, wich is far from secure now that its no longer housing animals. Another chooses to sleep near the coop but still outside. First on the brush behind the coop, and then on a bit of exess roost that pokes out from the coop. Still the other one chooses to sleep about 10 yards away from the coop perched on the top of the fence. Starting today I'm going to get them all in the cage before sundown for a week or so.

 

[Chatychick]

With mine and their new coop I had to put them in it and close the door each nite and let them out in the morning and they finally got the message that this was better and bigger and more roosts. its a thought

 

[jab91864]

I had a trio of silkies that chose to be rebels. Took me about 2 weeks of going out each night and putting them away inside with everybody else before they started to follow the flock. I think they just got tired of me sneaking up on them in the dark...lol

Julie

 

[Charlie Chicken]

The secret to getting chickens to roost where you want them to is to confine them inside the coop for a period of time. Confinement teaches them where their home is. If some of them roost on the floor while in confinement it will be necessary to go out to the coop after dark to quietly place them on the roost. The important key is that when they wake up in the morning and find themselves up on the roost they will soon learn that this is where they should be at night. The training should be repeated until all the birds begin to roost on their own but it usually doesn't take many lessons.

I usually raise my chickens from day old chicks and they remain in the same coop all their lives. As soon as they no longer need heat from the brooder lamp I start training them to go to the roost at night. Even though they have always slept on the floor since day one, it only takes a few nights of training to get them to go to the roost every night.

 

[skeeter]

My chicks have been trying to roost on something since they were 2 weeks old,either on top of the water or on the feeder,now they try to fly up on the edge of the brooder