[gregnjo]

Hi everyone,
We have just become first time chicken owners and most things are going OK, we built a good sized run for them and a nice new house as well as perches and tree stumps to play around and they seem happy. But a few issues have come up that may be nothing but may become a problem, firstly they seem reluctant to leave the house in the mornings but once out are OK, then the next day the same thing, is this just new home nerves?
secondly and most worrying for us is that although they perch on the branches in the run when outside they all sleep in the nest boxes and last night all in the same one (there are 3) and we are concerned that the bird at the bottom will get hurt or worse.

We are completely new to chickens but have fallen in love with our girls and would be devastated if anything happened to them especially if we could have prevented it.

Any advice would be most welcome

Thanks

Greg.

[nicky d]

hello i wouldnt worry too much about them, its is to be expected that they are gonna be nervous about their new surroundings, give them more time and they will come round,  as for sleeping in the nest boxes at night, again its nothing serious to worry about, give them a few more days to see if they will perch themselves if not then wait till its really dark, go out and simply lift them up onto the perch, the chickens wont mind as when its dark they are really very easy to handle.   Keep doing that for a few nights until they get the hang of it.    nicky

[Henlady]

I only got my first chickens a couple of months ago and they too squished in the the next boxes to sleep.  People do suggest picking them up and putting them on the perches when they are sleepy but I never did.  

They seem to have realised that the boxes are for eggs and no one sleeps or poos in there now.

I'd love to know who tells them about the next box.

[gregnjo]

Wow,

That was a quick response.

Thanks,
If they are not going to harm themselves we will see how they go and try your techniques in a couple of days.

Thanks again.

Greg

[nicky d]

dont forget to post some piccys of your girls         

[gregnjo]

Yeah, Having a bit of an issue with that, none of our pictures will upload to the profile but we will keep trying.

Thanks again Nicky

Greg

[carolbriar]

It took my girls a couple of weeks before they happily went in and out of the house.  They seemed to be easily frightened when outside - I put it down to the fact they were mostly kept in a big shed.  They seemed to spend ages in the house rather than in the run but eventually they became more used to all their new surroundings and now only seem to go in now if it is raining heavily or they are off to bed.  They seem to settle down in the dust bath area after a good clean up and will just sit and watch the world go by. 
Mine also slept in the nest box all bunched up on top of one another.  That seems to have changed now - one goes to bed just before the others and she settles into the nest box for the night and the others just make a dip in the deep shavings in their house.  I think it was during the colder weather that they all just slept so closely but now the warmer weather is upon us they are more spread out.  The one that sleeps in the nest box doesn't always poo in there but does sometimes.  I just make sure the house is cleaned up before they start laying.

[8doubles]

It is natural for hens to live in a state of fear as lots of things like to eat them.
It is possible that they hear things at night , hedgehogs or cats investigating the new chickeny smells.
In the wild the youngsters that are too sure of themselves are first on the menu.

[TeaPots]

It is a good idea to lift them onto a perch, to start them roosting ASAP. several reasons....
laying on the floor they get poopy,
and so more likely to get fly strike etc,
they can get squashed/injured at piling in together
the nest boxes get poopy, so when laid, the eggs are usually poopy too

Its worth doing from the start, and they usually only take a few days before they happily roost, tho I think we all have had at least 1 nortie girl who is a a dirty stopout! and has to be fetched in and PUT to bed every night.  

[gregnjo]

Thanks to everybody for the info, its good to know we are not alone.

Greg & Jo