Why won't my chickens roost?...

[kybeagle]

Here's the story! I ordered 10 EE, 5 BR, and 5 NN's and received them from the hatchery on May 8th, so they are almost 4 months old. I have a 3 tiered roost, with each tier one foot high and one foot away from the one below it (which makes the top tier about a foot from the wall and the bottom tier about three foot away from the wall). It's made from 2x4 with the flat side up and the lowest tier is about 4 foot off the ground running up to 6 foot high with the highest tier, and the ceiling of my coop is 2 foot above that. The chickens will also get on the roost during the day but at night they all lay in the shavings on the ground and pile up on top of each other even though the coop temp. has been 100 degrees during this hot summer. The roost is also beside a screened window so if there is any air moving (which there hasn't been) the chickens would have the benifit of that breeze. We have tried put them up on the roost during the night but they just walk around until they fall off! We have tried everything I know of to get them to stay up there during the night with no luck, what am I doing wrong?

 

[WingingIt]

Have you tried closing the window and then putting them on the roost? We had to teach ours to roost by putting them up there for a few nights until they figured it out, but if yours are getting down on purpose, there's most likely something they don't like. It could be the open window, maybe, if it's level with the roosts. What are your roosts made out of? Maybe they aren't comfortable for them to wrap their toes around and settle down on their feet? That's my best two guesses right off hand. Give us some more info.

 

[kybeagle]

I have tried closing the window and as I said the roost poles are made from 2x4's with the flat side up so they can sit on their feet in the winter and keep them warm.

 

[dento]

I am having the exact same problem with the chickens i just bought 2 days ago there are 8 hens and a rooster i know they can get on the roost but at night 5 of the eight hens choose to pile on top of each other in a corner i go in at night and put them on the roost and they stay there but the next night they are back on the floor. does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Happy ranch]

We have raised chickens for years and never had a rroostiing issue. We've gone in 4 nights in a row and put them up on the roosts. They stay upp but go in a pile again at dusk.
This has never occurred before. Could they have a wing issue? None of the 50 pullets even explore the laying boxes. They are 16 weeks.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I put a baby, practice "roost" in the brooder. Mind you, it is only 2" high, but the chicks are perching on it, during the day, at the second week. Once I move them to their grow out pen, I place a 10' long 2x4 and support it through the holes to two cement blocks (cinder blocks) in their grow out pen. They take right to it. It is only 10-12 inches above the floor of the pen. When they graduate to a layer's pen, they get the more traditional, tiered roost of multiple rungs. This has worked well for me.

Not that I mind pullets sleeping in a pile, but I know they don't stay as clean. Eventually, most "get" the roosting thing, but I prefer to encourage it right from the brooder on.