[wendyg]

Picked up our 5 hybrids on Wednesday and today I found 2 small, perfect (and tasty) eggs.  These were laid by the Blue and Copper Black as they are both about 25 weeks old (4 weeks older than the others). 

I was worried that 5 hens would be a bit of a squash in the coop (it has two 30 inch perches), but they all seem to squash up on a single perch (4 on the perch and one on the floor between 2 others), how can I get them to use the other perch?  Unfortunately the perch they are using is right in front of access door (for cleaning) so would be difficult to move them on the the other perch.

[alancane]

What lovely eggs and the darker one is a lovely colour!
To be honest, they will want to huddle up close to each other, so I don't think there is any point in spreading them across the different roosting bars - they will be happier all together. The only think you might want to do is get the one not on the roosting bar to get on the bar by lifting her up once they have settled down for the night. She will eventually get the idea.

In the depths of winter, they will enjoy huddling up together.

[ANHBUC]

I just lifted mine on the perches for a few nights and they soon got the hang of it.

The only time one of mine has not perched recently was when she was laying a soft shelled egg.  Think she was uncomfortable so I put her in the nest box for the night and she was fine the next day after laying.