Weird chickens or just being dumb?

[Baker1181]

I have a larger coop with 5 nesting boxes and 2 roosting bars the entire length of the coop and an attached run that is 8x16 feet. I have 8 hens. Two nights ago, I woke up at 330 am to go to work and one chicken was in the run all by itself laying on the ground. I watched all 8 go in about 730pm that night. I do have a large run roosting bar too. Last night I watched all of them start poking around and ready to go in about 715-730. All 8 birds were in the first two nesting boxes and snuggled up together out on the floor right at the small coop door. I went out there this morning to find 7 birds laying down in the dirt of the run and 1 bird was roosted properly. I checked the roost bars with a light to see if I could see any bugs or anything and checked around and didn’t see anything. Are they just dumb or adjusting to changes as these specific 8 were picked up not long ago. They are just now 4 months old. When I picked them up the area the person had them in when I showed up in the Morning there was no coop. It was just a small outdoor run. I didn’t question it, but maybe they got used to sleeping on the ground and cuddling?? The birds appear to be healthy, they don’t have missing feathers they are not dirty or anything.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Are they new to the coop? I know my young birds took a while to understand that the nesting box wasn’t for sleeping. After two weeks or so they started roosting one by one.

 

[Baker1181]

Yes, they are new to the coop, just under a week in the new home. They’re just leaving the coop in the middle of the night.

 

[Baker1181]

I do not recall seeing any kind of sleeping quarters for these birds when I pick them up. From what I remember it was just like a large dog run with a tarp over the top for weather protection. Which leads me to believe that they were sleeping in there they were on the ground huddled up.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

When they go into the coop at night you may have to place them one by one on the roost until they get the idea. Their instincts should kick in after a while.

 

[Baker1181]

Thanks. I’ll have to give that a shot. One being on the roost last night gave me hope. I figured it had to do with me in a new home and young birds. I was just shocked to find them leaving their coop in the middle of the night when it’s pitch black out.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

No problem I’d close the coop at night so they understand that is their home. Make sure it’s not hot in there because if it is they will want to leave. It’ll take some training but they’ll get the hang of it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Block off nests before nightfall so they can't use them (I imagine they're not laying yet, so you can just leave them blocked, or if you think a few are close to laying, unblock once it's completely dark).

Is there ambient light in the area of the coop and run?

Any photos of the set up? For 8 birds you'd want at least 8 linear ft of roost that are higher than the nest boxes.

 

[Baker1181]

Block off nests before nightfall so they can't use them (I imagine they're not laying yet, so you can just leave them blocked, or if you think a few are close to laying, unblock once it's completely dark).

Is there ambient light in the area of the coop and run?

Any photos of the set up? For 8 birds you'd want at least 8 linear ft of roost that are higher than the nest boxes.

No, they are not laying yet. I’d imagine sometime soon since they are now 4 months old. I also considered the ambient light being a contributing factor since a little bit does shine in the run. The roost bars are higher than the boxes and between the two I have 14 feet of space. I’ll have to find something to block them off this weekend. I was hoping they’d just correct it themselves but again they are new birds and I don’t believe they had a coop before.

 

[Baker1181]

I’ll have to try to manually put them on the roost as another person stated, they won’t let me touch them yet.