Do they have to sleep inside their house? Even if the pen is covered?

[kikster]

We recently went out of town, and came home to find that our Buff Orp had laid 3 days in a row (these are our first eggs from her)! Problem is, now she won't go inside the henhouse for anything else other than laying. While we were away the person that we had check on them, didn't lock them in their house at night like we had been doing. So she developed a habit of sleeping outside, roosting right next to the house, but not going inside.

The first night my hubby was so excited that he just left them as they were. And then the next day our Cochin laid as well as our BO, and they have both been laying everyday since. So since we went from zero eggs per day to 2/day, hubby doesn't want to mess up a good thing. Now all the hens just roost outside at night, and no one wants to go in. They have an enclosed pen and run, to protect them from flying predators during the day, but is this enough? Should we be making them go inside, even if they don't want to? DH is truly concerned that this will affect egg production if we force them to go in again, but is it just a coincidence? (They were laying before we got them, but when we brought them home they hadn't laid for almost 3 wks until now).

They didn't even go in the house last night, and it was storming! What's gonna happen when it gets colder (we're in southern VA, not ridiculous freezing temps, but still pretty cold)?

 

[kikster]

Here's a pic of the pen with the netting on top, is this enough?

 

[rhodiegal]

Something like a raccoon could get through the spaces between your gate and netting on the top - so I don't know if there is something you could arrange to fix that. However, I would not think that having them sleep inside at night would effect egg production during the day at all. Maybe you could throw some scratch or bread down inside the house to get them in and then close them in. Do they have perches inside the house? This way, they may get used to going in at night.

 

[kikster]

The raccoon is definitely my concern. Those little rascals actually have hands, and defy most things, lol. They do have some roosts inside the coop, but maybe it's not high enough, or not enough space? I'll try to get a pic of it. We were throwing in a bit of food at night to get them to scratch up the litter, but DH still had to manually put to two biggest hens inside at night. They just rebel and refer to roost. As soon as he'd get one in, and go to pick up the other, the first one would run back out, lol. But now almost all of them (5 out of 7) are outside on the roost instead of the indoor one.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Just put them in at night and they will eventually get used to it. i tend to have stragglers when first introducing chickens to a new coop area. But that pen is not secure at all with just deer netting on top. You could get raccoons, cats, possums, rats, or any other local critter. To make it secure you would need 1/2" hardware cloth over the top. Can't see the bottom, but you may need hardware cloth buried down a foot at the base also.

i think the egg laying and staying out all night is a coincidence.

 

[jsimplytx125]

You could feed some treats in evening inside coop to lure them in. That's what I do to lure my free range chickens into the chicken yard evenings. I'm lucky they all go in by them selves.
Now, my guineas, that is another story.

I agree.....anything could get into that outside run as it is.

 

[bertio]

Hi,
Say, I have the same problem. Some of my girls are sleeping outside instead of in a nice warm coop. I posted a question but didn't get a reply yet.
When you find out what to do, could you please let me know.
About the netting. I have the same netting, except I have chicken wire instead of wood for the pen.
On the outside of the pen, one foot away from the fence I have plastic fence posts with 6 strands of wire. I've connected an electric cattle shocker to it. It think it runs 6 or 7000 volts. This'll do nicely against even burrowing amimals since the 1st wire is about 5 inches off the grass.
I turn it on at night and off during the day, also when we go out.
I made the mistake of grabbing hold of it one day. I can't immagine what a racoon must be feeling.
I bought the wire in a roll and purchased the charger on Craigslist for $5
The plastic posts came from my local co-op at $2 ea.
Please, go this route. I lost my chickens years ago to a racoon. They just kill them and leave them scattered around the pen. Don't give them a chance. It only takes one determined racoon.
Good luck.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Bertio,

If you can't encourage your chickens to go inside your coop at night, or if it's hard to catch them at dusk, just wait until it's dark and they are all groggy. It should be easy then to pick them up and put them inside. Several nights of this should be all it takes, but you need to be consistent. That's what has worked for me anyways. But maybe i just have weak-willed chickens.

 

[ducks4you]

I agree--treat them like little children and put them inside of the coop. They will learn to do it differently. It's just a matter of habit. A few years ago, when I had my 1st RIR clutch, I put them outside in a 10 x 10 dog enclosure with a chickenwire cover. They had NO coop. Instead, I made them lean-to's. Nobody (6 birds) slept underneath. 5 were Roos, and they jostled for roost positions.

With this year's clutch, they have a temporary wooden, a-frame "tent" and I've placed a dog igloo on the south side of it, but the overhang prevents water from getting into the igloo. We moved them out in May, when they were about 2-3 months old. It was cool at night, and they all started putting themselves to bed in the igloo as soon as the sun set. Now that all 10 of them are almost 7 months old, they STILL cram in at night.