When will the girls start using the roost?

[chicksbunsdog]

Mine are 8 weeks old and just moved to the coop last week. They're all sleeping in a pile in the corner

They had a roosting bar in the brooder which they slept on every night and I even moved that roost to the coop for them but they haven't been sleeping on it. Hoping the figure out the roosting bar soon.

 

[epeloquin]

Mine are 8 weeks old and just moved to the coop last week. They're all sleeping in a pile in the corner

They had a roosting bar in the brooder which they slept on every night and I even moved that roost to the coop for them but they haven't been sleeping on it. Hoping the figure out the roosting bar soon.

What your chickens are doing is pretty normal when they move to their coop but sleeping on the gound is unnatural for them, it is counter -instinctive. What I did was I placed them up on the roost so they get familiar with it. They walked around on it a little and jumped off. Then, in the evening when it is coming on dark, place them on the roost. Their night vision is poor so they will be less likely to hop off plus their instinct is to roost at night so doing this should spark that instinct and they will start roosting on their own. You shouldn't have to do that more than a couple times.
Be sure that your roost is rounded. A 2"-2 1/2" branch from a tree or a 2x4 or 2x3 works well. If you use the 2x4 or 2x3 you want the narrow end facing up, so they perch on the narrow end. Their feet are designed to grasp a rounded perch.

 

[chicksbunsdog]

I've tried placing them on the roost in their coop but they just hop down, though, I haven't tried it when it was really dark. Perhaps I'll try that tonight and see if they stay put. Like I said, they were sleeping on the roost in the brooder, and they'll sometimes stand on it during the day but they haven't taken to sleeping on it in the coop yet. They have 2 roosting bars that are large, round branches they can roost on and another one that's a 1"x4" (a bit large for them right now - still only 8 weeks old - but they do fly up to that one sometimes during the day as well). We'll see what happens.