Can chicken learn to use two doors? (aka how dumb are my sweet chickens?)

[SnowWhiteTheWonderChicken]

Our chickens are family pets and interact with us a lot. They love to free range in our backyard and we are trying to teach them to use their coop as a pass through so they can have full access to the backyard and their run every day. They are not learning….

They have an elevated coop to sleep in with nesting boxes to lay in. We have auto doors and one side opens up to a large dry and shaded fully enclosed run with their food, water, and dust bath and the other side opens up to our safe and fully fenced backyard with good tree coverage and a friendly guardian dog that keeps them safe from predators (plus they are big girls making them poor targets for hawks - They are safe free ranging all day). I would like the girls to be able to come and go to free range as they please and also be able to pass through their coop to access their food, water, dust bath, and cover. The reason we need food and water inside the run is that the aforementioned dog will eat all of their food and dig in their dust bath.

The problem is that they don’t seem to get it. They are going outside and staying outside without returning to eat, drink, etc (they have grass and water outside, but their layer feed is inside the run).

Will they figure it out with time? Or will they never understand passing through their coop? Do we just need to plan their fee ranging excursions for when we can let them in and out?

Thank you!!

 

[cherrynberry]

Our chickens are family pets and interact with us a lot. They love to free range in our backyard and we are trying to teach them to use their coop as a pass through so they can have full access to the backyard and their run every day. They are not learning….

They have an elevated coop to sleep in with nesting boxes to lay in. We have auto doors and one side opens up to a large dry and shaded fully enclosed run with their food, water, and dust bath and the other side opens up to our safe and fully fenced backyard with good tree coverage and a friendly guardian dog that keeps them safe from predators (plus they are big girls making them poor targets for hawks - They are safe free ranging all day). I would like the girls to be able to come and go to free range as they please and also be able to pass through their coop to access their food, water, dust bath, and cover. The reason we need food and water inside the run is that the aforementioned dog will eat all of their food and dig in their dust bath.

The problem is that they don’t seem to get it. They are going outside and staying outside without returning to eat, drink, etc (they have grass and water outside, but their layer feed is inside the run).

Will they figure it out with time? Or will they never understand passing through their coop? Do we just need to plan their fee ranging excursions for when we can let them in and out?

Thank you!!

Is the door above ground or am I misunderstanding? I don’t see the coop-to-backyard door from the picture…

 

[SnowWhiteTheWonderChicken]

Is the door above ground or am I misunderstanding? I don’t see the coop-to-backyard door from the picture…

Yes - there is a little ladder from the door to the ground on both sides of the coop. One inside the run and the other outside the run.

 

[SnowWhiteTheWonderChicken]

Is the door above ground or am I misunderstanding? I don’t see the coop-to-backyard door from the picture…

Yes! The coop is outside of the run. One side has a door with a little ladder that goes into the run and the other side has a door and ladder that goes into the backyard.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So the coop is in the middle. Once they go, say, into the back yard where the dog is, they would have to go up a ladder, through the coop, and down a ladder on the other side of the coop to get to their feed and the dust bath?

Yeah, I think that's a little too complex. My chickens get lost going through a gate they've been through a million times if they're four feet away from it, even if it's open wide. "Gate! Where's the gate? Who moved it? I know it's around here somewhere! Gaaah!"

 

[aart]

I have a separate auxiliary run with a pop door for access.
Many of the birds I have lived there as chicks, so they are familiar.
It only gets used in summer, but they hear that pop door open and they all run to go thru it.

 

[SnowWhiteTheWonderChicken]

So the coop is in the middle. Once they go, say, into the back yard where the dog is, they would have to go up a ladder, through the coop, and down a ladder on the other side of the coop to get to their feed and the dust bath?

Yeah, I think that's a little too complex. My chickens get lost going through a gate they've been through a million times if they're four feet away from it, even if it's open wide. "Gate! Where's the gate? Who moved it? I know it's around here somewhere! Gaaah!"

That’s what I was thinking .

 

[perkolator]

Put the door at ground level. When I was free-ranging my chickens daily they had no problem going back and forth between multiple doors to get food or lay eggs (auto door on permanent structure and propped open human door on 2nd run), but mine are at ground level. Occasionally one or two chickens would get confused and be stuck outside either fence perimeter, but rooster would usually come collect and guide them back.

I'd relocate their 2nd door to ground level to simplify it for them. Seems better for quick exit if there's a need to get away from a predator vs a possible missed jump to a ladder or elevated door maybe costing them their life

 

[texsuze]

Agree to relocate Door #2 to ground level if possible. I have two "Little Red Doors" that exit out of my run, plus a large barn door into the barn, plus a dutch door from empty stall to turnout pen. All my girls learned pretty quickly, especially when they've seen me go in and out of the barn & stall doors. I also tell them "the Little Red Door is open" and they know they have access to the pasture.

 

[Yardmom]

Are the birds use to using the doors the way they are? If they have been using the doors already I'm surprised they are not already going back and forth. How many days have you tried it? If the birds have gone both ways from the coop it won't take them long to figure it out how to get where they want to be.