Terre Wilde wrote:This is great information and I appreciate suggestions anytime. I actually tasted the cereal, peanut butter and chilli flake concoction - it actually tastes pretty good. I agree pretty expensive choice but I had it on hand and wanted to give them something extra.
Do you physically put the birds on the roost if they haven't made it up there by nightfall? These birds are new and they favour one roost and ignore the other - if they can't get on the preferred roost they are sleeping on the floor - maybe I've got it set up wrong.
Yes, I do/did physically put them up on their roosts, night after night, for months with some of them. What happened was as they were growing out (around 6 months), a few of them would put themselves in the nest boxes or like the Silkies, just not roost. So every night I would do this, as I didn't want them pooping in the next boxes and I was concerned about the very cold winter nights down the road (which we have arrived at) and them not having the warmth of each other to snuggle into. My perseverance paid off. Some got it within a few weeks and the Silkies in particular took a few months but now 99% of the time everyone is on the roost at night when I go in there.
And just to clarify, I didn't force any of them to roost before they were ready but as soon as they showed interest or were more than old enough to I wanted to nip any bad habits then and there........and it worked.
If no one is going on the one roost ever there may be an issue with it but again maybe they just need some encouragement. Is that unused roost too high off the ground or to close to the ground?
