They finally figured out how to get into/out of coop on their own!

[nutmeg2356]

Phew! FINALLY!
The chicks finally figured out how to wake up and leave the coop & put themselves to sleep

I was getting oh so tired of going out there every morning and night to bring them in and out...

We had our first REALLY warm day, and the coop felt very warm inside, so I left them in the run with the coop door open while I went to work. I got home around 9:30 pm, expecting to have to pick up little fuzz butts and put them in the coop... I was soooo hocked to find that they all went inside on their own

Now I just leave their little entrance door open 24/7 and they wake up and go to sleep all by themselves. Chickens amaze me at how quickly they pick up things!! (Their whole coop/run is entirely enclosed in 1/2" hardware cloth, which is also buried 2' under the edges of the run... so they're safe from predators.. otherwise I wouldn't leave their little door open)

 

[Hillaire]

awesome! glad they figured it out. I would put another peg in between each peg on the ramp for them even with the hardware cloth if wet could get slippery.... I was going to mention the door being open 24/7 until I saw that you had it pretty well enclosed... I would still never be able to leave it open at night but I'm paranoid like that lol

 

[nutmeg2356]

I just reinforced the bottom as well, with hog fencing (that super thick panel fencing), just to make it a little more "hard to get into". All of the cloth is both nailed and screwed down. Very confident nothing will get in this coop! I even lined the entire roof with the cloth

If something were to get in, it would be something that would easy break into the actual coop if it was strong enough to get through the wiring.. So my logic is, if it can get in far enough to reach the small open door, that door being closed won't do much good against an animal like that anyways.

I was going to look at getting an automatic door... but since they roost on the opposite side of the coop, they won't feel any drafts from the door being open, so I'm pretty comfortable letting it stay open. That, and it's nice to give them free reign to go about as they please. The coop has an open roof design(just closed off with the hardware cloth, to keep birds in and animals out), and I used clear polycarbonate panels for the actual roof.. They're clear, though, which sounded like a good idea until I noticed how warm the coop got when its super sunny. So leaving the door open saves them from having to stay in a hot coop during the summer, until I can get out there and let them out.

Looking at putting a different panel over the actual coop, to block out a little of the sun and hopefully solve that problem. But they're okay for now.

Also have looked at putting another peg on the ramp, but they seem to be doing very well now. This photo was taken just after I first pout them in the coop, so they didn't have the "ramp" thing down. Now they really lean back and down when walking down the ramp, and are doing it like pros. So I'll wait to add another peg until I see if they have any issues.

 

[nutmeg2356]

And they're much bigger now, so the pegs don't seem so "far" apart

 

[IvanTsary]

We just moved our 7 1/2 week old chicks from their 5x3 brooder box into a 6x12 run with 6x4 elevated coop. I didn't put a door on the coop, and the first day 2 of them walked down into run and back up, then later in the day one got down but apparently didn't figure out how to get back up, so we went out right after dark and put her back in the coop. She didn't freak out when we picked her up, but after we moved them by hand yesterday and after us handling all the stuff in their brooder, she might have just been relieved to get some help or just been cold. Our rungs are kind of far apart as well so I think that is a challenge for the less adventurous chicks.

The coop is 3' off the ground, are they likely to get injured if they jumped from that height?

 

[nutmeg2356]

My coop is about 3' off the ground as well. Mine are pretty big, and when they first used the ladder they jumped off it instead of walking down it. Everyone was fine, no injuries

. Now they walk down the entire ladder, unless they're trying to jump onto one of the other chicks

They seem to think it's very funny