Chickens use ramp to get to second floor - then can't figure out how to get down!

kreiche

Hatching
7 Years
Feb 25, 2012
2
0
7
We have a two-story hen house with an entrance into the coop at the ground level. Lately, they prefer roosting at night on the second floor, which they access using a ramp up to the hole through the second floor. However, each day, rather than making their way down the ramp, they freak out, and peck at the windows until I open the large door on the side. Then they just jump out off the second floor onto the floor of the coop.

How can we teach/train them to use the ramp? Is it possible that the ramp is a comfortable path upstairs, but not downstairs? Do we need to modify the ramp or hole in the floor?

The ramp is approximately six inches wide with rungs every four inches. The hole is approximately nine by thirteen inches.

Thank you!
 
After they've gone to roost for the night, sprinkle a little feed on the ramp. Then give them a little time in the morning to find it. This is how I taught my chicks to use a ramp. My brooding hutch used to have a hole in the bottom with a ramp going down so they could access a covered run that was attached to the hutch. My problem was the chicks would go down it without issue, and then they couldn't figure out how to get back up into the hutch. The run was secure from predators, but open to the weather. So I started sprinkling a little scratch (chicken crack) on the ramp. They figured it out pretty quickly after that. Good luck!
 
How steep the ramp is might be a big part of this. It seems to be easier to go up a steep incline than it is to go down.

Chris
 

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