Chickens won't go in coop at night

[crankyyanky1]

Yes thanks we used lots of hardware cloth but I am going to talk to my husband about another window!

 

[lcertuche]

Your fenced in yard looks like it would not be to hard to enclose with wire over the top. They probably do want to be outside. Even in the winter chickens often likes the outdoors. Unless its freezing weather it is okay for them to be outside. I would use a strong wire and not chicken wire though. Raccoons and such can chew right through it.

 

[aart]

.... Even in the winter chickens often likes the outdoors. Unless its freezing weather it is okay for them to be outside. ......

Chickens can be, and often choose to be, outside in below freezing weather.

 

[thornhill]

In my experience the chickens prefer to roost outside, even in the winter.

My coop sits in a a fully enclosed space -- basically a 10'x10x10' wire cage. Inside of that space I have a bunch of wood planks that are 2 to 7 feet off of the ground.

I usually free range in the evening, and for the first 8 months I had my hens they would go into the cage and then into coop at night, and I'd close the coop door after them.

Eventually I got lazy about that and just left the door open all of the time because I was confident that a predator couldn't get into the cage. After about 3 months the hens started roosting on the planks in the cage.

If it's raining at bedtime they'll go into the coop to sleep, but otherwise they stay outside. Even in the winter when the temperature has hit the high 20s they stay outside (it doesn't get any colder than that where I live).

The nesting boxes are in the coop and they still go inside during the day to use them.

So I think it's clear that they'd rather be outside.

The upside is that there is rarely any poop in the coop, and it's a lot less likely that they'll get mites.

So if you can, try to fully enclose the space that the coop is in.

But if you want them to go into the coop, then I think you're going to have to keep putting them in the coop at night and do something that prevents them from roosting where they currently are roosting -- they need to know that it's no longer a roosting spot. They're creatures of habit. Once they find a spot they like they'll want to use it every night.

 

[BruceAZ]

In my experience the chickens prefer to roost outside, even in the winter.

for my case.. i noticed they like to go inside the coop and pick a place that is the highest and darkest of the coop

the top right corner (in the back) is the place they like to sleep.. I put 2 perches inside the coop but for some reasons all 5 hens like to cramp up in that one corner of the coop.

My guess is to avoid the light. The coop opening is at the bottom left (no door) of my coop.

 

[thornhill]

for my case.. i noticed they like to go inside the coop and pick a place that is the highest and darkest of the coop

the top right corner (in the back) is the place they like to sleep.. I put 2 perches inside the coop but for some reasons all 5 hens like to cramp up in that one corner of the coop.

My guess is to avoid the the light. The coop opening is at the bottom left (no door)

I should add that the rails outside of the coop are farther above the ground then what they roost on in the coop, so it's possible that's why they prefer to be outside. But then again, it's brighter longer outside of the coop, and where they roost outside faces west.

 

[aart]

Quote: I'd guess it's the height.....drop the outside roost down lower than the inside roost and see what happens over the next week.