Won't roost in the hen house?

[BoerneChickens]

My chicks are 5 1/2 weeks old and are out in their coop. It has a raised hen house in one end and a full enclosed run. We have been keeping them in the house at night - which has roosts - but they sleep on the floor. Tonight I got home a little later and they were out in the coop on a roost out there. I thought they would go into the house since that is where they have been every night for a week now. How do I get them to go into the house on their own at night and actually roost? I thought they would naturally roost and get up off the floor of the house. How do we get them to know the house and roosts in it are best for at night? I'm afraid they will get too cold out in the run at night without the light - its getting down to the low 60s upper 50s still at night here. I only have a low watt light in the house so I don't think it is too hot because they don't seem to crowd away from it. But I am stumped - could it be that they cant get back up the "ladder" into the coop? They seem to be a little skittish going down it but they have gone down a few times on their own. When we have put them back in the house, we put them about half way up the ladder so they can go the rest of the way on their own - but they seem a little nervous about the whole thing.

Any ideas?

 

[eraycollins]

My chickens roost every where but the trees. I've had them here for almost 3 years and having grown up with chickens [over 30 years ago] I've picked up on the 2 most common factors that seem to affect where they roost. If they feel crowded or unsafe [predators - including rats or snakes] they don't want to sleep there. In colder weather, if they can find a warmer spot to roost they will. For my adult birds that have taken to roosting where I don't want them I move them right at dark or very soon after dark. I may have to do this as few as 2 or 3 nights, or as long as long as a week. If you do this, try not to skip a night. Put them close together but try to keep some distance from the adult birds. The adults I have get a little aggressive when they feel that their sleeping space is being invaded. Hope this helps.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

We have girls from 3 weeks to 9 months in our coop. When we first put our 4 week old girls outside in the big girl coop they would roost by the gate at night, and not go into the hen house. Sooooo what I did is every night after dark i would go out there and pick each one of them up two by two and put them in the hen house. (we have 20 babies to tuck in) It's taken us a week but last night they finally went in the hen house themselves! I went out to tuck them in, and they were already tucked in. YEAH!
So it's an option to tuck them in, hope it helps!

 

[BoerneChickens]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will try tucking them in after dark - maybe we are trying to put them in too early. I'm also going to leave the light off tonight - it is supposed to be quite warm, so maybe a dark house will help them settle back down after I move them.