Roosting outside in Freezing weather

[mvh]

My 6 months old chickens refuse to roost inside the coop. I live in northern BC, and even at nights where it's -10 Celsius they still roost outside on some crossbars in the covered part of the run. I have locked them inside the coop for a week, but as soon as I let them out again they again roost outside. The coop is about 60 square feet for 12 chickens. Lots of roosting space. The coop has two windows, it's nice and light. My two older hens always roost inside. I am worried what happens when it gets to be -30 to -40. We usually get some days like that every winter. The coop is not heated, nor lighted. Any hints or tips?

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Newbie here but I've done a ton of research and I have a few questions that may help people figure out your issue

Whats your pullet to cockerel ratio? (If you have any cockerels)
Do they have access to the coop at night or do you have a auto door that shuts at a certain time?
How long has it been since you added the ones that are roosting outside to the flock?

 

[Folly's place]

Are your hens keeping them outside?
Ventilation? Different roost bars? Enough roosting space?
Have you wrapped your run walls, leaving upper ventilation for them?
Pictures of your coop and run might help here too.
Mary

 

[rosemarythyme]

Where are they roosting outside? If there's roosts in the run, you might want to remove them for a week or two so that's no longer an option for them to use.

 

[mvh]

Newbie here but I've done a ton of research and I have a few questions that may help people figure out your issue

Whats your pullet to cockerel ratio? (If you have any cockerels)
Do they have access to the coop at night or do you have a auto door that shuts at a certain time?
How long has it been since you added the ones that are roosting outside to the flock?

Of the 10 chickens that are 6-7 months old 4 are cockerels. The coop door closes after dark. These chicks were added to the flock about 4 months ago.

 

[mvh]

Are your hens keeping them outside?
Ventilation? Different roost bars? Enough roosting space?
Have you wrapped your run walls, leaving upper ventilation for them?
Pictures of your coop and run might help here too.
Mary

Of my two mature hens are one is thoroughly cowed by the young cockerels at the moment, does not leave the coop easily. Don't think either of them is keeping the young ones out.
I have a lot of ventilation on the wall of the coop that has the pop door. There's a window which is at least 2 square feet that's open, as well as 6 ventilation holes high up which are about 4" across each.
The run is made made mostly of pallets, but the section right by the coop has some rafters on top of the pallets with corrugated plastic roofing panels on it. It's on the crossbars of the rafters where they just love to roost.
I am strongly considering wrapping the run walls in plastic to keep the snow out as much as possible.

 

[mvh]

Where are they roosting outside? If there's roosts in the run, you might want to remove them for a week or two so that's no longer an option for them to use.

They are roosting on the rafters of the covered part of the run. It's not an option to remove them. I guess I could block that off for a while by stapling some chicken wire at the bottom for a while. Good thought!

 

[mvh]

Of the 10 chickens that are 6-7 months old 4 are cockerels. The coop door closes after dark. These chicks were added to the flock about 4 months ago.

Two of the cockerels are slated for freezer camp soon. There may be a fifth cockerel as well, just not sure. I did try putting a light on in the coop for an hour after dark, while leaving the pop door open, but it didn't encourage the young chickens to move inside. Also the mature hens that were in didn't always make it to the roost by the time the light went off, so after about a week I discontinued using the light.

 

[mvh]

Here's a picture of them roosting inside on a night when they were on coop arrest for a week or so. There is a third roosting bar lower down yet (about 12" from the floor), which they only use to move to the upper roosting bars. The two mature hens are on the lower bar to the left.
The next picture is of the place in the run where they love to roost instead, this was a month or two ago, before winter arrived:

 

[rosemarythyme]

The rafters in the run are nice and high, looks very appealing to sit on. Give the chicken wire a try (or netting, stretched tightly) and see how that goes.