hens not roosting at night

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Chickenbrain2009

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Hi,
I bought four hens a few weeks back and after a short while they roosted in the upper level of a forsham arc at night as they should.
However I have noticed that recently they have not gone to bed at night at all, but stay sleeping downstairs. They are still very flighty and difficult to catch so at the moment its not feasible to start putting them upstairs myself. They always seem just out of reach! :-)09
I have a Bovan Nera, Skyline, White Ranger and a Speckledy. At the moment only the Bovan Nera and White Ranger are laying. I have noticed that the Bovan Nera is laying her eggs near the roosting poles,so wonder if, as she seems the dominant hen, she is the one who has decided to not to go upstairs at night and the others are following her lead. I have been away for a few days, so her eggs have stayed inside, I am now back and removing eggs promptly. Has anyone any suggestions? At the moment its fairly mild, and they are well contained so its not a problem, other than the fact I want them to roost in the right place. :-)19
Many thanks for any suggestions
Pam
 
H Pam, Is your ark new or has it been used before? A colleague on the allotment has recently had problems with his girls not wanting to roost. On further inspection of the coop, which he bought second hand, the dreaded red mite was discovered.
 
I have had birds before, and I did have red mite but have treated it. I will go out tonight to see if I can find any red mite. Do you think they might not want to go up because of that? It did cross my mind. However, I shouldnt have any as I treated it a couple of weeks ago. They are laying up there OK
Pam
 
I want them to roost in the right place.
Click to expand...

Why ? :-)02 imho they sleep where they want. It can be effected by loads of things from the breed (My Buff Orp is too heavy to roost up far),Heat, draughts, mood, mite, fright, plight...... :-)07

*Reb puts on a Hippy accent*

Maaaann ..... Take a chill pill Pammmm :-)17 :mrgreen:
 
OK...

You are aware that chooks are "Jungle" birds and originaly roosted in trees ? There are breeds that will do that still at a drop of a hat.

If it was that cool and draughty they would seek shelter.... They aint that stupid . jmho.

BTW... tried to look for two level Forsham Pet Ark ... wanted to picture it in my head... I could only find one leveled ones :?
 
well, I have had a look and there is no sign of red mite. So I am back to the assumption that the reason that they are not roosting is that the lead bird is laying her eggs up there..............they were roosting before. I know they roost naturally and would roost in trees, which is why I think something is putting them off. I have kept chickens for years but have not had this before.
The forsham arc has two levels, one below and up the ladder to the roosting area and egg laying area. what does jmho stand for?
Pam
 
Just My Humble/Honest Opinion. :-)17

I will be fascinated when you find the answer :) The egg idea seems a bit suspect to me .... Why would that be the case ? If it were true it would be an issue with more people, wouldn't it ? Or is she a bully ? :-)19

It has been humid and hot and those arks do collect a lot of heat upstairs ... add that to the number of hot little bodies ? :-)05 I dunno..... This is better than a quiz show ! :mrgreen:
 
I am going to try emailing the woman who sold them to me to she if she knows. I just thought that perhaps she doesnt want to sleep in the place she thinks is her nest. I have put some new wooden bedding downstairs today for them to scratch around in. I will look to see if that makes any difference. The weather hasnt been that hot at night recently. They were roosting upstairs until I went away and I noticed when I came back they weren't, which gave me the egg idea.
 
Ok, I have emailed the woman who sold me them, and she thinks it is red mite. I have thrown out the bedding, and dusted the birds down and put some powder all over the place. I looked at the birds and only found one mite, so the place is hardly crawling! Anyway she asked me what I was using and I told her I was using Barrier red mite powder. she said it is a deterrent rather than a killer so I should use Poultry Shield. so I will get some.
I did find quite a few earwigs which I brushed out, only to find out that they are useful to have in the coop as they eat red mite! The hens are still resolutely sleeping on the ground :roll:
 
I looked at the birds and only found one mite,
Click to expand...

May I suggest that if you were able to see one there was a billion you couldn't.... nasty little buggers. I use creasote on the wood and powder the birds in their dust bath... does the job for me. :-)17
 
Hmmm................I couldnt find any on the perch at night. but it looks like this is the problem. I was going to move them into a different coop in a week at so while I mend the old one, so will treat it again while they are out. I may have to just leave them out for a day.
Pam
 
hi i am new to this forum but just to add to this topic i have had to treat my chucks for red mite and that very same night the birds would not go up to the perches upstairs to roost so looks like we have the same problem, i think if thy want to go upstairs to roost they will, any thougts on this will be of help thanks
 
Hi
I have a few hybrids and not all roost on the perches, some like to sleep on the bedding underneath, I would not worry, as long as your birds are happy and healthy, I would not be too bothered about where they sleep as long as they are safe.
I would also keep spraying the hen house with mite spray, preventative measures are always better than trying to stamp out a problem. I clean out the houses every 3 days and give a general spray and then a deep clean every 15 days.
Regards Sue
 
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