Hello, new here and new to chickens.

[StinkyAcres]

View attachment 4092558

Any drafts hitting the roost?

 

[ChaosMom]

Are they putting themselves in the coop on their own (just not on their perches) at dusk, or do you have to round them up?

 

[beany_bot]

Any drafts hitting the roost?

No

 

[beany_bot]

Are they putting themselves in the coop on their own (just not on their perches) at dusk, or do you have to round them up?

Yeah they go in and out the coop at the right time.

 

[beany_bot]

The light sussex seems to know shes meant to be up there, she paces about a bit looking up and pecking towards the BO's that something needs to happen. But the BO's show abosultely zero interest in it and they all end up in a ball in the corner. Then I put them up once its dark enough and they stay up till morning.

 

[ChaosMom]

The light sussex seems to know shes meant to be up there, she paces about a bit looking up and pecking towards the BO's that something needs to happen. But the BO's show abosultely zero interest in it and they all end up in a ball in the corner. Then I put them up once its dark enough and they stay up till morning.

This is so weird! I have a Nestera coop (odd but effective) and the roost bars are a whopping 8" off the bottom, so no problems there. It sits 2' above the level of the run litter and has a large 12" platform in front. When I brought the three girls home a month ago at age 7 1/2 weeks, the Barred Rock and EE flew up and down without blinking their eyes, but the Buff Orp paced nervously back and forth, finally using an upside down garden pot about 12" high as a stage.

She seems to have finally (mostly) gained some flying courage and can fly from the ground the to platform and back down, but unless she's in some sort of chicken panic, she still generally uses the bucket. She's kind of a terrible flyer, lol. (Not al all overweight or under-exercised.)

Maybe your girls are the same, and it's just too scary to make that hop up to the roost. I don't know if a ramp would help (I thought I saw one once in a pic?) or just a much lower roost. As I posted somewhere else, sometimes Orps just gonna Orp!

 

[beany_bot]

Added a bar at 13 inches. Let's see how they get on with that! Annoyingly it's lower than the nesting boxes. But I'm in a catch 22!

 

[beany_bot]

still not interested!

 

[ChaosMom]

still not interested! View attachment 4094027

lol. Your Sussex must think they're nuts.

 

[beany_bot]

You can see here. I put them all up after they had taken themselves to the coop for the night (but still a bit light out). One will jump down, then another, then finally the sussex. And alkl will just cram into the corner. 10 days now! You can see the first BO to jump down seems to know shes meant to be up, trying to get on the 6 inch bar, but doesnt even seem to be able to do that! it's like they don't know they can even hop! But that said, why are they actively jumping down? The only way I get them to stay up all night is if I put them up when it's proper dark. Then they settle and stay up.