Wondering why my chickens won’t use their perches at night?

[SophiaLinn]

So my pullets have a large shed as their coop with a run attached. The run is on the right side facing it and the perch latter we made for them is on the left side inside the coop. They won’t perch at night, instead they huddle together in a corner close to the run next to their chicken door. It’s not a matter of being cold, they did this in the summer and right now it’s 80 deferred during the day. They will use the perch sometimes during the day but not at night. For a few days I tried having a light turn on at night for an hour so they could find a place to perch for the night but they seemed really confused about it. One of them will perch on the window that goes to the run (wired in) if the window is open and sometimes on top of the window itself but never on the perch. There’s really no problem with it but I know chickens typically like to be up high when sleeping so i’m just curious.

 

[Tiddleywinks]

So my pullets have a large shed as their coop with a run attached. The run is on the right side facing it and the perch latter we made for them is on the left side inside the coop. They won’t perch at night, instead they huddle together in a corner close to the run next to their chicken door. It’s not a matter of being cold, they did this in the summer and right now it’s 80 deferred during the day. They will use the perch sometimes during the day but not at night. For a few days I tried having a light turn on at night for an hour so they could find a place to perch for the night but they seemed really confused about it. One of them will perch on the window that goes to the run (wired in) if the window is open and sometimes on top of the window itself but never on the perch. There’s really no problem with it but I know chickens typically like to be up high when sleeping so i’m just curious.

I leave a small light on every night. It helps them to see to get up and down. We had a power outage one afternoon an at night time I had to put them on the roost. They were all huddled together before that. Plus the light I heard keeps them laying?? I am still getting 10-11 eggs a day out of 12 hens where my friends hens have all but quit laying. Hope this helps. Also noticed your roost. Mine will not roost on a flat board. I had to install round dowels. But all chickens are different.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

That does seem strange... have they ever roosted at night? If not then they might need training - you can try to place them up on the perches each night so they learn thats what they are meant to do. They should soon get the idea and start taking themselves up there.

 

[springvalley123]

I've always used 2x4's with the wide side for their feet, this is the universal "approved" design you'll find on BYC. But the ladder roost you have, when one chicken is on a wrung, doesn't the poop land on a bird below her? I couldn't tell the spacing of the wrungs. Roosts should be at least12 inches apart horizontally so they don't poop on each other, 14 or more inches is better. I didn't get a sense of how close the roosts are to the open window. A lot of birds won't roost where there's an open window because they don't feel safe. They'd prefer to roost in trees. I've used shade cloth to give them the sense of security it took to get them to roost. Speaking of the window, I'd put hardware cloth with screws/washers instead of or in addition to the chicken wire.

 

[JoePa]

I may be wrong but to me it looks like the 2X4s are too high and it is too hard for the chickens to get up on them to roost

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do they get any natural light in the coop? A few windows could help provide enough light for them to navigate (but not as bright as an artificial one, which could throw off their timing).

 

[aart]

How long have you had these birds and that ladder roost?
How many birds total?
Roost looks fine tho I don't care for ladder roosts.
I'd try going in well after dark and putting them on the roosts.
Wear a dim headlight and keep it pointed up so as not to light a 'path of escape'.

 

[SophiaLinn]

I've always used 2x4's with the wide side for their feet, this is the universal "approved" design you'll find on BYC. But the ladder roost you have, when one chicken is on a wrung, doesn't the poop land on a bird below her? I couldn't tell the spacing of the wrungs. Roosts should be at least12 inches apart horizontally so they don't poop on each other, 14 or more inches is better. I didn't get a sense of how close the roosts are to the open window. A lot of birds won't roost where there's an open window because they don't feel safe. They'd prefer to roost in trees. I've used shade cloth to give them the sense of security it took to get them to roost. Speaking of the window, I'd put hardware cloth with screws/washers instead of or in addition to the chicken wire.

The perches are slanted enough that they’re not on top of each other so they won’t poop on the ones below. And there is hardware cloth covering the window near the perches. The window has been closed before when it’s too cold and they still didn’t perch there.

 

[SophiaLinn]

I may be wrong but to me it looks like the 2X4s are too high and it is too hard for the chickens to get up on them to roost

They use them during the day though with no problem at all.

 

[SophiaLinn]

Do they get any natural light in the coop? A few windows could help provide enough light for them to navigate (but not as bright as an artificial one, which could throw off their timing).

There are 2 big windows that provide light but it’s too dark at night. I did try an artificial light at night for a few days but they seemed confused and eventually stayed in the corner again.