will the teen girls find their way to the roost at night?

[Melody Hunt]

We added four 8 week old girls to the flock about 2 months ago. During the day they now free range with the hens. Last week we removed their teen sleeping crate and fencing within the chicken run and moved them to the hen house with the big girls. (same space without the restrictions.) The teens are not interested in sleeping on the roost...(plenty of room) but on the floor of the hen house. They'll get pooped on! How do convince them to sleep on the roost where it is safer and warmer? I moved them up, but they jump right back down. We have several roosting poles in the yard that they use during the day, so they know how. Any advice? Will it hurt them to sleep on the sand?

 

[rosemarythyme]

The lower bar is staggered to the right about 2 feet lower and about 2 feet away from the higher bar;

Good, so they shouldn't be able to harass the younger ones easily from the top then.

Yeah I'd keep trying to put the younger girls up at night, once it's dark. You'll probably get some of them hopping off but hopefully if one sticks, a few nights later another will stick, and so on and so forth.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I would persist in putting them on the roost. The adults might have been bullying them off so ensuring they have enough space to spread out is important. How much roost space do you have overall, and how many bars? How many chickens total?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The teens are not interested in sleeping on the roost

Until mine mature enough to force their way into the pecking order mine don't sleep on the main roosts either. If they do they are probably going to get pecked. My pullets usually make that transition from immature to mature when they start laying.

but on the floor of the hen house.

Personally I don't care where mine sleep as long as it is predator safe and not the nests. I put in a juvenile roost, more on that later. I often have three or four different age groups in the coop. The adults sleep on the main roosts, the older juveniles sleep on the juvenile roost, and the others sleep on the coop floor separated by age group. I don't see the problem with them sleeping on the coop floor. Chicks in a brooder sleep on the brooder floor. A broody hen with young chicks don't roost but sleeps on the floor. Them sleeping on the floor doesn't bother me at all.

They'll get pooped on!

I understand the concern. Certainly sounds gross. I know I'm going to lose most people on this but in the photo below you can see where I use the top of my built-in brooder as a droppings board. But where the brooder doesn't reach I use bins to catch the poop, you can see them on the bottom right. This is the most popular place for the juveniles not using the juvenile roost to sleep, some in the bins some roosting on the bin sides. Do they get pooped on? Yes. Does that bother them? Obviously not. If it bothered them they could move anywhere else they want, including under the brooder. That's where the youngest usually sleep when I have four different age groups. Them being pooped on bothers you, it doesn't bother them. Can I tell by looking at them that they have ben pooped on? Almost never. The fluff up and shake or take dust baths to clean themselves. If it doesn't bother them it doesn't bother me but I do understand how gross that sounds.

How do convince them to sleep on the roost where it is safer and warmer?

I mentioned a juvenile roost. You kind of have one. I integrate all the time and immature chickens sleeping in the nests was a problem. So I installed a roost higher than the nests. lower than the main roosts, and horizontally separated so the adults could not harass them. I let mine move to the juvenile roost when they want to, I don't try to manage that. If you want them to sleep up there move them after dark as others have said. But how dark is your coop? If there is enough light that they can see to jump back down they will. Do you need to make your coop darker. At that age if you are consistent it should not take long to train them to use that lower roost as long as the hens don't harass them. I have seen a hen leave her normal roosting spot to beat up juveniles trying to roost in the far corner of the main roosts. Hopefully you have enough separation that your hens won't do that.

Since we sometimes like photos (or find them gross) this shows my juvenile roost higher than the nests. The top of the nests are used as droppings boards. It's a horrible design as it is hard to scrape but it was an afterthought. You can see my brooder off to the right to get an idea how isolated it is from the main roosts.

Will it hurt them to sleep on the sand?

After seeing where my broody hens sometimes take their chicks to sleep I don't see why. Do you have any specific concerns about that?

 

[MountainWoman73]

They will figure it out when they're older. Sometimes I stuff teenage chickens into a nest box together, and they like that better than a roost. They like sleeping piled together for warmth.

 

[WindingRoad]

We added four 8 week old girls to the flock about 2 months ago. During the day they now free range with the hens. Last week we removed their teen sleeping crate and fencing within the chicken run and moved them to the hen house with the big girls. (same space without the restrictions.) The teens are not interested in sleeping on the roost...(plenty of room) but on the floor of the hen house. They'll get pooped on! How do convince them to sleep on the roost where it is safer and warmer? I moved them up, but they jump right back down. We have several roosting poles in the yard that they use during the day, so they know how. Any advice? Will it hurt them to sleep on the sand?

Go out just before it is totally dark. Put any bird that is not on a roost ON. Put each one in the same spot. If they jump down put them back up. Every night same spot. Might take 2 weeks for them to understand. Chickens develop habits pretty quickly. Might take only a couple of night. Don't let them sleep in the nest boxes. They need to know that nest boxes are for laying eggs. Not unless you want to do the "hunt" every day for eggs. Or you find them laying of the roost at some point with broken eggs and the possibility of egg eating.

Again NO sleeping in the nest boxes. They are for laying eggs only. Every night same spot over and over and over. They will get the hint. I might even be tempted to go back in a few minutes later and check on them. On the roost same spot every night. It's like the Frame oil filter. You can pay me now or you can pay me later later usually cost more. If you don't start training them now you will be cleaning nest boxes and putting in new bedding, hunting for eggs losing eggs to laying off roost or even on the coop floor stepping on them when you go in in the morning, ETC. And all of this in the cold winter weather. Make things easy for yourself down the road. Good luck. Don't give up you can and will win.

ETA: I close all doors and use a flashlight behind me to catch my birds. They can't see in the dark so if they are going in after dark they can't get up. I sing a lullaby to my birds and check crops, or feet. or vents as I sing to them. Easier to do in the semi darkness.

 

[pozees2]

Could be they are obeying flock seniority/superiority rules. If you give them time to find their places in the flock they will likely eventually make their way to the roosts at night.

 

[Melody Hunt]

They will figure it out when they're older. Sometimes I stuff teenage chickens into a nest box together, and they like that better than a roost. They like sleeping piled together for warmth.

They did sleep in the nesting boxes for 2 nights. but they poop where they sleep. On the plus side, it would be warmer. We don't allow the hens sleep in the nesting boxes.

 

[Melody Hunt]

The lower bar is staggered to the right about 2 feet lower and about 2 feet away from the higher bar;

 

[EmmaRainboe]

We don't allow the hens sleep in the nesting boxes.

Good, you don't want them to get accustom to doing so. Once it gets dark I would put them up on the roost. I would put them a poll lower than the big girls so they can learn where to sleep and go themselves. If you put them with the big girls they likely won't be allowed to gp up there themselves. Do this for a few nights till they start jumping up by themselves.