roosting behavior

It started at the beginning of summer where 3 of my girls would hang out on the ramp to the coop rather than go in when it got dark. The one same hen that would go in, would roost, no problem. I couldn’t really figure out why that was happening, but since the sun has started setting earlier...

Hello, second time I've done chickens. I now have 10 pullets and one cockerel all about 12 weeks old, no other chickens. They will not roost at night. There is poop on the roosts and ive seen them up there during the day once or twice before they were allowed in the run. I Yesterday a put a...

I am having an issue with a hen. We have an flock of birds with one rooster and two hens left. They are old and most have already passed from aging or illnesses like egg yolk peritonitis. The hen in question hasn't been returning to roost in the coop and we think it is simply her going away from...

Good morning everyone, I am new to raising chicks and my 12 week old Barred Rock hens are cracking me up… they have a automatic chicken coop door that opens at dawn and closes at dusk. The last week they have been coming out of the coop around 7am, eating, and going back in the coop to roost...

Hello! I have a peculiar hen. Bit of a background.. I've raised all my chickens from chicks & the only homes they've ever known is their brooder & the coop/run they're in now. Back to this hen, Sam, she's a lone wolf & likes to explore & wander. They are free range chickens, to an extent, we...

For over a month (it's winter here) I've had a hawk roost in a cedar tree right above the coop/pen/run area. It hasn't been an issue because the flock is wintering in their predator proof pen. My chickens don't even know the hawk is there due to tarps on the pen to stop wind! However, I am...

I've been having this problem for months now and I've been doing everything in my power to get it to stop, but nothing has worked. All 7 of my EE pullets love to sleep in the evergreens, way up high. I can get all but one down and she goes so high there's nothing I can do. Now that it's getting...

Hi all, First time BYCer, got the beginner jitters. So it's coming up to two weeks and I'm still struggling to get my two girls to go back into the coop on their own and to roost. I've searched the super helpful advice here; I've put on a light for the past few nights, changed the ramp to...

Hello! I have a quick question... I've been integrating 3 new pullets (now 16-17 weeks old) to my existing flock of 3 chickens. I've been following the recommended steps and today has been the first day I put them all together in the same enclosed run after free ranging. Things are going very...

My wife discarded about a gallon of watermelon last yesterday. A group of seven juvenile game chickens consumed almost all of it. They went to roost early, did not go as high up into trees, and were not in the usual groupings based on normally hanging with siblings. A couple were roosting in...

Good morning! My family and I are raising our first flock. We have 4 Wyandotte’s (2 gold laced, 2 silver). They are about 14 weeks old, but still not using their roosting bars, and are sleeping in the laying boxes. I know they will start laying in the next 4-6 weeks, how do I break this...

any suggestions welcome. i have 4 ducklings-2 cayuga & 2 blue swedish. they are fully feathered so we moved them outside about a week ago. they free range in a fenced in yard & have a small run attached to their coop. each morning they come out into the run quacking to be let out. the problem...

I've had four young chickens for the past two weeks. They're in a makeshift brooder in the house, and there are no older chickens. At this point, I have a 6-week-old, a 7-week-old, and two 10- through 12-week-olds. At night, they don't go up on their roost bar to sleep. They'll sleep in a puppy...

Hi all! Right now I have 8 hens. 5 (1 ISA Brown, 3 Ameraucanas, 2 RIR) of the 8 are about 3 years, 1 (Olive Egger) is 1 1/2 years and the last one (Easter Egger) about 10 months. The 3 year olds and 1 1/2 were clearly molting and egg production slowly came to a halt. However, my ISA Brown was...

Tips, please! We moved our eight baby chicks (7 wks old) from the wool hen inside the dog crate (inside the run) to the coop where the big girl, Chicken Little sleeps. They have been sleeping behind the curtains in one of the nesting boxes. I have shown them the roosting bars and made them a low...

I am having g a serious problem with my free rangers getting on my vehicles. Is there any way I can deter them from thinking they can hang out on my fender. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Hello, There is a ton of good info on this site and I'm sure the answers to my questions are on here somewhere...so I apologize for any redundancy. I have ten chickens 6 Barred Rock hen and two Silver Duckwing OEGBs hens, and two roosters, one G/B Sebright & one Golden Wyandotte. All are...

Alright, I've got two roost for my chicks in their pen that's on the grass and the only one roosting insists on the waterer and the feeder. I'm also wondering when the other ones are going to start roosting as well.

Hello all. I currently do not have any windows in my coop for sunlight so I’m using a “daylight” CFL lightbulb on a timer from 6am to 5pm. My question is... What can I do so that the chickens will get on their roosts because it goes from light to pitch black. I know you awesome chicken people...

so the growers were having a slumber party in the nest boxes. I blocked them off but there was still a ledge that the polish were getting quite comfortable on but one morning one had managed to fall into the nest box and get stuck. So I blocked it completely and now they just sleep on the ramp...