Hi,
I have 4 barred rock hens that we got last March, who have been independently going in their coop at night all summer. We free range them when we're home and the weather is good, but about 1/3 of the time they are locked in their run at bedtime. Like clockwork, they used to all head towards the run at dusk and then put themselves to bed in the coop before dark, but that was when it was light until after 9 p.m. They did this for 5 months, and now they've stopped. We have a door to the coop on a solar timer, so it was really convenient to know that the door would close them up safely at night, and they'd already be in there roosting.
Now that the days are getting shorter, they will make it back to the run by dark, but they can't get their butts into the coop! Today it rained hard all day so we didn't let them free range, and still, they didn't go into the coop at dark. Every night, we have to go out and take them from the roost in the run and put them in the coop, then manually shut the pop door. It's getting cold at night now and I can't imagine why they won't go in! I thought that maybe they were just running out of time due to the days getting shorter, and they just couldn't find their way in time, so we put a light in there for them and also lit up the ramp going in, but still no luck. Sometimes 1 or 2 make it in but mostly all 4 of them just roost outside. They don't mind when we force them into the coop, and they go in and out without trouble to lay their eggs in the mornings.
The problem is that their coop is like Fort Knox and is really the safest place for them at night. We live in a national forest and there is every kind of predator--otherwise I might be more inclined to just let them roost outside and figure it out, but it's not as safe. The run is well-protected too, but not as safe as the coop. My neighbor just had a bear on his porch. I feel like we can't go out of town overnight anymore because of this!
I have 4 barred rock hens that we got last March, who have been independently going in their coop at night all summer. We free range them when we're home and the weather is good, but about 1/3 of the time they are locked in their run at bedtime. Like clockwork, they used to all head towards the run at dusk and then put themselves to bed in the coop before dark, but that was when it was light until after 9 p.m. They did this for 5 months, and now they've stopped. We have a door to the coop on a solar timer, so it was really convenient to know that the door would close them up safely at night, and they'd already be in there roosting.
Now that the days are getting shorter, they will make it back to the run by dark, but they can't get their butts into the coop! Today it rained hard all day so we didn't let them free range, and still, they didn't go into the coop at dark. Every night, we have to go out and take them from the roost in the run and put them in the coop, then manually shut the pop door. It's getting cold at night now and I can't imagine why they won't go in! I thought that maybe they were just running out of time due to the days getting shorter, and they just couldn't find their way in time, so we put a light in there for them and also lit up the ramp going in, but still no luck. Sometimes 1 or 2 make it in but mostly all 4 of them just roost outside. They don't mind when we force them into the coop, and they go in and out without trouble to lay their eggs in the mornings.
The problem is that their coop is like Fort Knox and is really the safest place for them at night. We live in a national forest and there is every kind of predator--otherwise I might be more inclined to just let them roost outside and figure it out, but it's not as safe. The run is well-protected too, but not as safe as the coop. My neighbor just had a bear on his porch. I feel like we can't go out of town overnight anymore because of this!
