Afraid of the dark?

[UBkevy]

my chickens at dark make a dogpile in the corner. I thought it was becease of the cold but it has not dropped below 70. there has been no sign of a predator. it seems to be a dark corner is that what they prefer over roosting when they are 4-10 weeks old

 

[Mahonri]

sometimes you just have to go in there and set them up on the roost.... when they wake up in the morning, they'll remember how well they've slept some will make it up to the roost, others will not... just keep doing it every night for a week or so if it takes that long.

 

[grnhrn]

Hi, I am new to raising chickens and did not want to start a new thread, because this exactly the problem I am having. We got 4 barred rocks on Friday, about 12 to 14 weeks old. They evidently had a coop with no door to it, and are used to sleeping outside (I guess). They do the same thing. Find them every night in the corner all huddled together. Pick them up and put them in the coop. However, I do not close the door. I was afraid they might start picking at each other (read somewhere that might happen).
They have a really nice coop (I will try to post a picture later) that will hold up to 8 birds. They lay in their during the day, have not used their roost.

Bottom line question, should I close them in at night. I do not want to cause them any stress if I can avoid it.

Thanks for any help.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
Chickens need to be protected from predators at night (and during the day!). Should you close them in at night? Depends - does your coop have a SECURE run area attached? So if you don't close the coop, the chickens are still protected from predators? If that is the case, I wouldn't necessarily close it off, because you'd have to open it in the morning to let them out into the run.

If you want them to use a roost, wait until it's starting to get dark and go in the coop and put them up on the roost. Do this every night and eventually you will go out there and they will all be up there (surprise!!).

 

[Big dreams]

I had to put a light on in the coop in the evening so that it was lighter inside then out, then once they were in and going to sleep I turned it off.. this was the easiest way to get them in at night, it took mine a little while to start roosting on the roost for some time they slept on the floor, I am going to guess it was around 11 or 12 weeks they were getting up on the roost at night. I didn't put them there they just started doing it after awhile. Good Luck. I close my coop up every night after they are in because we have night time predators...

 

[grnhrn]

They are in a fenced in area (husband says right about 60 feet total). I wanted them to be as "free range" as possible, hate to see animals in small cages. We have hawks, possums, skunks, cats, dogs, etc., so we fenced in the area and netted the top of their run. But I am paranoid so I laid boards around the bottom of the run, just in case. Guess we will just keep working with the silly little ladies. They seem to like the coop during the day. Two of them have been sitting in the doorway most of the morning.

Told my husband, we do not have 1 normal animal in this yard, why should the chickens be any different than the dog, cat, squirrels, and crazy birds around here. I seem to run the home for slow learning animals.