Roosting

dolphin8

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This post covers my hello from Leicester but I also have a question. I have just become mum to five 16 week old hyrids for around ten days now (lovely girls). So on them going to roost they all try to cram into one nesting box.........................I was told that I may have to put them on the perch to learn how to roost. There are three roosting poles in the coop so plenty of room. Will they get it or do they need to learn??

Cheers

Jules
 
Hi,

No the nest box is about the same height as the perches, we just bought a standard coop nesting boxes on the side. When I look in there all I can see is two bums and there are five in there!!! :lol:
 
Hi Jules and welcome to the forum.
As your pullets are several weeks away from needing the nestboxes for laying, you could try blocking them off by putting large flower pots or boxes in them, anything that will fill the space so the girls can't get in. Then it's possible they will just roost on the floor of the coop, and will need to be helped to learn how to perch. It's likely they haven't been kept anywhere with perches yet, as many people believe it's best for growers not to perch until their bones are more fully developed. So if you go down after they have roosted and are sleepy, you could try lifting them gently on to the perches. They will soon get the idea, though you may have to do it for a few nights. One evening you'll go down and find them all roosting neatly in a row on a perch, and a few days after that, when you're sure they have all cottoned on, you can remove the pots so they can begin to explore the nestboxes as they come up to lay. It won't harm them to sleep in the boxes or on the floor of the coop, but it's best to encourage roosting on the perches as they will stay cleaner if not sitting in their own droppings. The wrong roosting habits can be hard to break once established, so a bit of trianing now will pay off in the long run. Perches should ideally be higher than the nestboxes as they will always want to perch as high as possible, so if yours are the same height you might need to do a bit more training than if the perches were higher.
 
Cool,

Thanks for that, it makes sense. I was just concerned that they would mess up the nest boxes everynight ( like they are doing) plant pots seems like the best solution. I did pop them onto the perches last night, much to their complaining................such funny little girls. I will try the plant pot approach for a few nights and see how we get on.

Cheers
 
You may like to check if perches are wide eunugh for them to use comftably.Change of the bedding in nest boxes will put them off going there if you for eg.using wood shawings in nest boxes try to put newspapers down ther that will put them off.They hate anything ufamiliar.I had used this method to train very stubborn cockrell to roost on the perch.He refused to go on the perch with others(which learn after 1-2 times) and try to go in to nest boxes or slept under the perches.One day I had change woodshawings from the floor in to newspaper,guess wot he was on the perch without any problem and stayed there from now on.
 
Try and keep them out of the nest boxes as the eggs will get very messy when they appear. Block them out is first stage, then encourage them to perch as you are doing. Most learn to perch though the odd one or two never do. Perches should be 2'' x 2'' for hybrids and other large fowl and square, not round, though idealy, the edges should be rounded off.
 
Well a few days blocking off the nest boxes at night and we are just about all perching and pooing in a straight line now.................result. I am going to change the perches this weekend as they might be a little narrow but I thought they would be fine as come with a purpose built coop.

Thanks all for advice :)
 
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