Please Help: New Birds Won't Roost Very Distressed

[BigBlueHen53]

hi and welcome to BYC, the home of Everything You Need to Know to Succeed as a New Chicken Tender! Glad you got your featherkids settled!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Thank you, that worked (they still panicked but they are both on now).

Chickens are creatures of habit, they often do not handle change really well. Your two have gone through a huge change. Everything is strange, so yes, they were upset. Many people would be too.

But chickens are also very adaptable. It usually doesn't take them long to adapt to change. They should be fine in a day or two. Moving them to the coop with the others will be another change. They may handle it quite well, it may take them a day or two.

Turning off the light was a great idea. Leave it off. As it gets dark they will find a place to sleep. That may or may not be your choice of roost. As long as mine are predator safe and not sleeping in the nests I don't care where they sleep. It doesn't hurt them to be somewhere other than your roost.

They aren't snuggling together even though it's a little cold...

Where are you? How cold do you consider a little cold? I'll tell a story.

One morning it was right at freezing. A frost was on the ground, the sun was shining, and the air was calm. Our dog was sitting out in the front yard, alertly watching what was going on. When my wife saw her she said "That dog must be miserable".

That dog was not miserable, she was where she wanted to be. If she wanted she could have gone inside a pretty warm attached garage through a doggie door. What my wife was actually saying was that she (my wife) would be miserable sitting outside without the proper clothing. The dog's fur provided the proper clothing.

Like the wild birds wherever you are chickens can handle pretty cold temperatures since they are wearing a down coat. If they were uncomfortable yours could have done something about it, but they chose not to.

I think you are doing great. Just try to relax a little, they will be fine.

 

[bokbokbokBOKBOKBOKBKAAA]

Update: Night 2, one went on roost,
one not. Night 3 both went on roost on their own.

Thank you all for the help and encouragement!

 

[TOMTE]

YAY!! Congrats!