Trouble getting chickens to sleep on roost

[Hasbeth]

So a while back we had some trouble with our hens sleeping in the nests, and we fixed it by putting a block to the nests. However, recently they've started to sleep on the same roost, all four of them. Admittedly the coop is a little overcrowded (though the place we got it from said it could house five hens - yeah right!) but there are two roosts in the coop but they're only using the one roost. It isn't long enough to fit all of them, yet they insist on squishing themselves all on one roost.

Is there any way I could encourage them to use the other roost? Because it can't be comfortable with 4 on one roost!

(PS I was unsure if this thread was relevant to this topic but I couldn't figure out which one to put it in!)

 

[cascaderox]

When I first got my chickens I had Trouble getting them to sleep on there perch so what I did was every night before it got dark I placed them up on the roost at first they kept jumping Down but I just put them up again until they stayed and then I blocked the entrench to the coop so they had no option but to sleep on the roost these days they go up there themselves

 

[Hasbeth]

We've had ours for a few months, since March, and I think the problem is that the coop isn't well built, the roosts are on the same level as the nests so they tend to go for the nests. And since we blocked the nests off they're just sitting on the one roost...

I'll try putting them on the other roost but they tend to just hop on the same one all together.

 

[jetdog]

It probably won't take much work to remove the old roost and build another one that is long enough for all of them. Maybe at a different angle to make it longer.

 

[sumrfun65]

Mine have not wanted to sleep on the roost. We have three and they all liked cuddling in the nest box. I have recently been putting them on the roost once it gets dark. Yours must like being close to each other. Seems like if they weren't comfortable they would move.

 

[Hasbeth]

Yeah, mine sit on the roost but they all sit on the same one...
Here's a photo:

I suppose they're comfortable but one just seemed to be sitting on top of the other, which I thought couldn't be good. But they seem happy like that!