Roosting at the entrance

[OldMcContri]

My girls have been outside for 2 days now in their new coop and run, they are all 6 - 7 weeks old, and have slept on roosting bars inside their brooder box prior. For the past two nights I have noticed that all of them are crowded at the entrance of the coop sleeping there instead of going inside the coop to sleep. Since I have no electricity nor can I add some to the coop, I did go out and buy a solar powered light that I am going to hang right outside one of the windows . I was wondering if they are just enjoying their new found freedom or is it just going to take them a little time to get used to their new house? It is only 73 degrees inside the coop (according to the digital thermometer I have inside the coop)

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you are describing is very common for me with brooder raised chicks. I normally keep them in the brooder for five weeks then move them to my elevated grow-out coop. There is a small perch in the brooder for them to play on, but it is normal for my brooder raised chicks to start roosting at night around 10 to 12 weeks. I’ve had some roost as early as 5-1/2 weeks and some take a whole lot longer, but 10 to 12 week is fairly average.

Until the chicks are ready to roost for the night on the roosts, they like to sleep in a group on the floor or ground in what they consider a “safe” place, usually a corner but not always. If your coop is elevated, sleeping on its floor is not sleeping as low and protected as they can. I usually keep mine locked in the coop section only for about a week before I allow them access to the run. They practically always try to sleep on the ground under the pop door their first night out.

I just put them in the coop after it is dark and they have settled in for the night. Sometimes they catch on pretty quickly that they need to go into the coop to sleep and sometimes they don’t. I just keep putting them in until they catch on.

I recently had a group of 16 I did that with. The first night they were all on the ground. The second night 8 were on the ground, with the rest inside. The next night 3 were on the ground. The next night only 2. After that, they all went in. I have had other groups where a couple took over two weeks to finally figure it out. Each group is different.

One of the funniest things I saw related to this with another group. I had 21 chicks in that group. The first night they were all on the ground. The next night I went down there to do something in the area just before dark. All or most of them were just settling in the group on the ground outside when they saw me walking that way. They all moved inside just from seeing me coming down there. I never had a problem with them after that.