Why won't they roost?

is your roost too high for them? I have a black polish hen with a gimpy wing, and she has a hard time getting up, my husband made rungs, like a ladder for our roost so there is a rung starting from close to the floor and leaning like a ladder against a wall.. the angle... and they just jump up one level at a time. they are about 5 feet long roosts, and we have 4 levels. angled so they don't poop on each other.

 

What kind of chickens do you have? If they are silkies, they will not roost. I have silkies and they all sleep together in the nesting boxes.

 

our rungs are not round, they are square. we have a few hens that sleep in the nesting boxes, along with an old guinea. I have read that if you have a light in the chicken house, you can put a smaller wattage bulb on a timer that when it gets dark, the smaller wattage.. maybe like a nightlight, would be enough light for them to find the roost when it is dark? I had chickens that when it got dark they just simply couldn't find the roost!

 

Give them some time. They'll figure it out. They always do.

This latest batch of birds took about two weeks from the time the first ones starting flying up on to the roosts until the last one finally got the idea. My roosts are all about two feet off the ground and they all manage it fine now.

.....Alan.

 

I have 7 week olds that still sleep under the light. I put a baby roost about 6 inches off the ground right under the light. During the day the light is off. When they nap during the day, they sleep in a pile. When the light is on in the evening, they all squeeze onto the roost.

 

I just keep putting them on the roost everynight till they learn. Some get it immediately, but some take a little time.

Every bird here roosts on a perch at night. When I had silkies, they roosted too. You just have to teach them.

Matt

 

My girls are 8 weeks old and some have been roosting consistently since they were 2 weeks. What temps do you keep them at, mine are fine in their coop down into the mid 30's and they all sleep on the top roost that's 3 feet off the ground. The other day I had to put them back in their coop during a thunderstorm and it is the only time I've seen them all huddled together sleeping versus on their roost. I assumed they were either cold from the damp weather or scared from the storm. Within a couple hours I checked in on them and they were all back up on the roost. I guess they kind of know best what it is they need as long as its available. My roosts are made of 2x3's staggered 1 foot apart in both depth and height; so I have a roost at 1 foot, 2 feet and 3 feet. They sleep on the 3 foot roost...all of them.

The roosts