Why Won't My Teenagers Roost? How to Train?

[ravensnow]

I've had four young chickens for the past two weeks. They're in a makeshift brooder in the house, and there are no older chickens. At this point, I have a 6-week-old, a 7-week-old, and two 10- through 12-week-olds.

At night, they don't go up on their roost bar to sleep. They'll sleep in a puppy pile, generally behind, underneath, or around their tall, metal ratproof feeder on the opposite side of their brooder. (The roost bar is closest to the window. The feeder is closest to the rest of the house, from which some accidental light occasionally reaches them.) On the very first night, one of the two older girls was roosting on the side of their water dish to sleep, so we put in a roost bar the very next day.

When it gets dark, we go in and pick them up from where they've settled and move them onto the roost bar. They settle on the roost bar without a problem then; they don't fly off it unless they get some accidental light in the room. If they get any light in the room, they'll start to hop off and form another puppy pile on the ground. Is there a better way to train them to go onto the bar at night?

They interact with the roost bar during the day. I'll see one or two of them sit up there for a small day nap or to preen. Everyone can reach it. There's lots of room for them all to be up there.

What are we doing wrong? What aren't we doing that they need?

 

[SueT]

It looks like the roost is too skinny, unless they are bantams maybe. These birds are all plenty old enuf to be out in the coop. What's the roost situation in the coop?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Do you have a coop built for them?
They are old enough to be in the coop. Light won't be as much of an issue in the coop.

Sleeping in a pile is totally normal. It takes them time to learn to roost.
Keep setting them on the roost after dark. They'll get there eventually.

 

[Rysktal]

My chickens didn't start roosting until they started to lay. I thought they would never figure it out but they did.

 

[Col1948]

That roost bar looks a bit small, try a bigger/wider one and as others have said put them in the coop and maybe put the roost a bit higher as well.

 

[ravensnow]

Thanks for the help/reassurances. The coop is alllllllmost done, but not yet. We'll try a wider roost in the brooder (which has always just been a holding pen with no supplemental heat) and keep setting them on there.

 

[SueT]

If you are using dimensional lumber for the roost in the coop, mine prefer the 2X4 roosts with the wide side up. There's a 2X3 roost but the lowest in pecking order are relegated to that, so I assume they don't like it as well.

 

[centrarchid]

Try something really simply. You can reverse orientation of everything in the brooder. You can also move things in other directions to make to brooder is a new location. Make certain light levels are not dropping too abruptly.