Training chickens to go in at night...

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Update: So they decided to go inside for two nights in a row before I left, so the sitter only had to close the door. Now I added deeper litter and a board to keep it in, so I decided that they need a ramp. I put them on the ramp and shoo'd them inside in the afternoon (they clumped up at the end of the ramp, and I had to nudge them in). They jumped back out, but then they just cuddled up by the door when it started to get dark. I lined the ramp with meal worms (which they have just been introduced to), and they didn't notice. I'm going to put a shorter piece of wood to prevent litter from falling out and see if they will jump up, but I'd prefer they use the ramp. They just seem to shut down at any change no matter how much encouragement I give them.
 
Our temporary coop is 3ft tall and when we put our chicks/teenagers in there for the first time they didn't know what to do so we let them be that first night then the second night I had to crawl in there and put all 12 up top (the coop in on top of the run) and once they were all in there and we covered the hole to the run with a piece of ply wood that we just slid over. We did that for a few nights and they all got the hang of it.
 
If you have some sort of treat or feed that they really like, get in the habit of putting that in your coop every evening, about the same time. They will soon pick up on the routine, then they should be in their coop everyday at that time for their treat. All you have to do is give them their treat and lock them in. hope it helps.
 
snhchick said:
Update: So they decided to go inside for two nights in a row before I left, so the sitter only had to close the door. Now I added deeper litter and a board to keep it in, so I decided that they need a ramp. I put them on the ramp and shoo'd them inside in the afternoon (they clumped up at the end of the ramp, and I had to nudge them in). They jumped back out, but then they just cuddled up by the door when it started to get dark. I lined the ramp with meal worms (which they have just been introduced to), and they didn't notice. I'm going to put a shorter piece of wood to prevent litter from falling out and see if they will jump up, but I'd prefer they use the ramp. They just seem to shut down at any change no matter how much encouragement I give them.
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They don't need a ramp. My chicks were hopping up then over the 1x6 I have to hold in the "deep litter" at 2 weeks. And from outside the coop, that is probably about 8" high. At 3 weeks they were flying to 2' with no problem at all. At 4 weeks they were doing the same "ground to 2' high roost to 4' high roost as all the 3 Y/O hens.

Train them to treats (I use scratch at night). I have a herd of 16 chickens that thunder toward me when I go down to close the coop (people door, chicken door is automatic) and barn doors. Wherever I throw the scratch is where 16 chickens run. I give them Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS) in the morning. I've not done mealworms but all I have read says they are just as popular. Once they know the routine and what you have in your hand, toss it through the chicken door into the coop. They will run all over each other to get inside. This will likely take no more than 2 days.
 
And now they will DEMAND FOOD every time they see you. But we can PRETEND it is just because they love to be with "their people".
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We had our chickens trained before they were transferred outside permanently. When they were around seven or eight weeks old, I started to let them run around in the pen we had built for them during the day. As started getting dark, the kid's and I would round them up (which was easy with only three chickens) and put them back in the brooder for the night. Since we had the heat lamp on because it still a little too cold for them at night, they got used to the light at "bedtime". Once they were transferred outside permanently as the weather warmed up, I would turn on the lamp at dusk and they would go into the coop on their own. The first month outside I would close them up in the coop at night, leaving the lamp on for about an hour. During that month I would gradually reduce the amount of time the light was on. By the end of the month they were going into the coop on their own without the use of the light. Now they are in the coop before I even make it to the pen. They even head back to the pen on their own when I let them out into the fenced area attached to the pen. Hope you can get your's trained as easily.
 
I'm not expert but what I found for me that works is to start out with a light in the coop because I too can't get inside the run. After a few weeks they started not going in, I'm assuming they got use to a light shining outside and I forgot to turn it on one night and I'll be darned if they didn't just go on in before dark ever since so no more light.
Just put my new 2 month old chicks out on a run and coop today and they didn't know what to do so I'm training them the same way. Lights for a couple weeks and then I'll do not lights.
 
mandi224 said:
I'm hoping this is the right forum to post this in -- if not, please forgive me!

I just moved my chickens outdoors on Sunday, so I know this will take some time. They're 7.5 weeks old in a temporary coop (this one from Tractor Supply - got the floor model $100 off) while I finish building my bigger coop & run.

My problem is... I'm spending 15 minutes every night trying to round up my girls and get them INTO the coop! Because the "run" attached to the coop is SOOOO small, I can't step INSIDE it to catch them. So it's a big ordeal and I know it's stressing my birds out. My buff orpingtons are easier to catch because they are friendlier but I also have 2 production reds that are much more skittish and they're especially rough to catch!!

I know I read that you should leave your chickens shut INSIDE the coop for a few days before letting them out so that they know where home is -- but the coop is small enough that my food/water doesn't fit inside. So that doesn't really work.

I'm shutting them up for the night at dusk -- should I try waiting until it's darker outside?

Any other tips/tricks?

This is my first time with chickens, so forgive me if these are silly questions!
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Try putting food inside the cage. If that don't work leave them outside in the run and don't bother trying to herd them in the coop. Your wasting your time doing that. Once it gets later than dusk they should go in on there on.
 

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