[jla_1984]

Hi, I am new to this site (and to chicken keeping). I bought 6 hens (13weeks old) on saturday. They seem to be settling in well and are very friendly which is nice. My only confusion is in their roosting behaviour. The coop I am using is quite spacious and has 3 lovely perches...but the chooks are choosing to all sleep in two of the nest boxes...which means they are completely piled on top of each other! I am worried about their safety more than anything...wont they crush each other?!?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks 

[poultrygeist]

Hi jla. Welcome 

What size and shape are your perches ?

And are there any draughts around the birds at roosting height ?

You can lift them onto the perches carefully after dark (use a red torch) and after a while, theyll get used to it. Assuming the perches are suitable.

Rob

[treacleminer]

If they are only 13 weeks they may not have been 'perch trained' yet - I think this is something they would do naturally if raised with Mum, but not when artificially brooded.  As Rob said, you will need to lift them on to the perch each evening until they get the idea!
It may be worth blocking off the nest box for a while as they won't need it to lay for a few weeks and it will break them of the habit of sleeping in it.  Its better if they don't sleep in there as they do a large proportion of their droppings at night which obviously is more likely to give you dirty eggs when they do start laying.

[Alby]

My Amberlinks hadnt a clue when I got them and also crammed themselves into 1 nest box  :blink: once they got used to the new house ( and me   ) they started perching without a problem. Took them about 3 days although they were a bit older than you,rs about 18 weeks .      

[chuckmum]

I had the same with my little girls when they were babies, I blocked off the nest box at night (using a cat litter tray) and they quickly got the idea!

[Sid]

Our ex bats crammed themselves into the nesting boxs for a couple of weeks  :nowink:but eventually their naturel instinct kicked in and now they all use the perches... :)you'll get there

[chuckie.egg]

If they are only 13 weeks they may not have been 'perch trained' yet - I think this is something they would do naturally if raised with Mum, but not when artificially brooded.  As Rob said, you will need to lift them on to the perch each evening until they get the idea!
It may be worth blocking off the nest box for a while as they won't need it to lay for a few weeks and it will break them of the habit of sleeping in it.  Its better if they don't sleep in there as they do a large proportion of their droppings at night which obviously is more likely to give you dirty eggs when they do start laying.

Our chicks had no 'mum' as we incubated them in our house, and they all started wanting to perch at about 3 weeks of age.

[wilson5]

Hi, I am quite new to chook keeping I got my first hen in July I have had to swap a few hens over because they turned out to be boys.  At the moment I have 4 all of various ages and not one of them use their perches they all sit on top of each other in the smallest area -the nesting box!  Will have to block the nest box I think as when I went away at the weekend my son looked after them,he was not into cleaning the poo up so because the box became quite dirty they would not go to bed (had a very upset 19year old on the phone while we were having a meal needing instructions on how best to get them to bed, thats when a sheet comes in handy when you have a grumpy cockerel)

Don't think mine are going to do it out of instinct.

Good luck

[jla_1984]

Thanks all, I will give them some gentle encouragement tonight and will try blocking off the nest boxes. The perches aren't round (I read somewhere that they should be) so I will sand them down this weekend.

For anyone with cats and chickens...will they get used to each other? Cats dont show much interest when the chickens are in the coop, but as I am gradually getting the chickens used to the garden, the cats seem to default to hunting mode (despite them both being daft as brushes). I am hoping that after a peck or two they will give up...?

And finally... I have been shutting them into the house every night as instructed, but if I stay away for a night and leave the door open should they be ok (weather permitting)? This isn't something I plan on doing on a regular basis but may have to sometimes...we dont have any neighbours nearby to ask as we live in the middle of no-where. Hope this doesn't make me a bad chicken mum!!!

Thanks

[poultrygeist]

THe cats will probably try rushing the chickens but wont normally get close enough for a peck. Eventually they'll give up or get pecked.

Leaving the pophole door open will allow a fox to wander straight in and take the lot unless the coop is in a fox-proof run.
Our run is fox 'resistant' at least and I wouldn't risk it.
Could you get an auto opener/closer ?

Rob

[treacleminer]

If they are only 13 weeks they may not have been 'perch trained' yet - I think this is something they would do naturally if raised with Mum, but not when artificially brooded.  As Rob said, you will need to lift them on to the perch each evening until they get the idea!
It may be worth blocking off the nest box for a while as they won't need it to lay for a few weeks and it will break them of the habit of sleeping in it.  Its better if they don't sleep in there as they do a large proportion of their droppings at night which obviously is more likely to give you dirty eggs when they do start laying.

Our chicks had no 'mum' as we incubated them in our house, and they all started wanting to perch at about 3 weeks of age.

We're all wrong sometimes!  That was going to be my next question - at what age should chicks be introduced to perches?? My first hatching are now 5 weeks old!!!

[hillfooter]

I've kept chx for over 10 years and reared lots and never perch trained them but then I have a Forsham Lenhan Ark which pretty much forces them to roost on the perches.  Also all Forsham houses have nestbox shutters to prevent them huddling together in the nestboxes.  In order to keep warm chx like to huddle together and personally i find most perches tend to be single poles or if double spaced quite widely so they can't huddle up whic encourages them to roost on the floor or nestbox.  I find a rack of 4 or 5 parallel perches spaced 3 to 4 inches apart works better.  You can slope them slightly upward from front to rear.

It's best that the profile of the perches should be rectangulat with rounded off corners so they can grip them and don't damage the pads of their feet.  50mm X 30mms or 70mm x 40mm for larger birds is fine.  Don't make their perches round.

Regards

[alisonwo]

My hubby made our coop and the perches, which must not be round.  We tried a thickist branch the first time cut from a curly willow, it was hilarious as it obviously wasn't level and they would perch on one part of it and keep sliding down.  We soon changed it for homemade ones,  dead easy to do and easily stripped down so it can be dunked into red mite killer or water to clean it off.