Why are my chickens behaving like this?

[Loudawg11]

Ok so here's the scoop. My 5 buff Orpington chickens are about 3 months old
And are looking healthy. Which is why I don't know why they're doing this. I have 2 comfortable coop houses inside my run and the chickens seem to like them. But that's in the day time. When night falls they turn into coop-house-hating-monsters!!! And instead of going inside the house they'll sleep together on one of the coop house roofs! And the same one every night!!! I don't know why they won't go inside!!! I put them in there every night starting at week 6 through week 9 and then they got too difficult to move so I stopped, thinking they would just go in by themselves. But they didn't! Any feedback is appreciated! Here is a picture of the crime scene.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How big are these coops? I would suspect they are hot and stuffy.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed. Lack of ventilation and too small.

 

[azygous]

Agreed. Chickens aren't complete dopes. There's some reason they find sleeping inside the coop unpleasant.

If they haven't got enough linear perch space to flap up onto it without knocking each other off or there isn't enough space to hop down off the perch without bashing their brains against the opposite wall, they will soon get tired of all the unpleasantness and look for something more comfortable.

Also, if there is a mite infestation, chickens will be very reluctant to spend the night inside. You need to inspect the coop interior after dark to see the mites as they don't live on the chickens and only emerge to feed at night.