Annoyed >:(

[gritsar]

Quote:
I'm a newbie to chickens and that is what I read everywhere (on here too I read that)...to leave them in the coop (like their brooder) for two days straight...and then let them out...

...also I have some friends who are homing pigion(sp?) and chicken folks who say the same thing...

tell me what your advice is so I can see what fits best to my girls and my situation...I'll listen

Sorry, but I have to agree with what they are doing. The only way I was able to teach my chickens that the coop was home was to keep them locked up in it. Because my chickens were older when we first moved them to the coop I had to keep them locked up in the coop for almost two weeks (or else they returned to the screened porch at night, which was their first home).
Mine don't hate their coop. It's their home and they return to it every night like clockwork, as well as the hens visiting it during the day to lay their eggs.
The three chickens I gave away live in a very different enviroment than how I kept them, as well as not being spoiled the way I spoiled them. That's okay; they're being cared for and that's all that matters to me.

 

[EweSheep]

I have to agree with Gritsar and it is NOT cruel for them to be in a coop for that long if they feel like they need to do so AS long they are well taken cared for.

Other than that, you will have to let it go.

 

[candysclucks]

In February I was down to one hen when a predator got my other hen while free ranging in my fenced yard in during the day. (A bobcat was seen in the area I found out later). So I found a fellow that had a couple 10 month old hens he was selling. I put the new hens in the chicken yard with my 3 year old 'Minerva". The next day I let them all out in the run together and one new hen disappeared. I couldn't find her anywhere and she was in an electric fence protected yard. Anyway 2 days later in the early evening I heard a noise on my front porch. I opened the door and there was my lost hen! I couldn't believe it. She let me pick her up and put her in the coop. I found out later that she flew over the fence. My neighbor said she was in his garage and he tried to catch her.
So even though she was not locked in my coop for days or weeks she KNEW her new home! I was amazed. I think she tried to get back in earlier because she is afraid of the electic fence.

Candy

 

[welovechickens]

I apologize if I made anyone upset - or seemed to imply that new chicken owners wouldn't be caring towards their chickens! I definitely didn't mean that.

After all we were all first-time chicken owners at one point LOL!

No, we didn't have a "deal" with the new owners that the chickens would be raised a certain way. But they had been telling us for weeks that they planned to have them in a big run (part of their garden area, which was like 20x40 feet....a great size for chickens, IMO) and then right at the end, days before we took the chickens over, they changed their minds. The chickens were used to being able to get out of their pen and run around in our yard, dust bathe, etc....at least a couple times a day.

If we were only able to let them out for a few minutes, or only once during the day, it was very hard to get them back in the pen. One time it took us half an hour to get them rounded up and back into the coop. They knew where their home was, but they didn't want to be in there except in the dark. LOL

So I knew the longer these chickens were left in the coop, the longer they would want to be outside and scratch around before being put back in.

I had never heard the idea of leaving them in the coop for days/weeks at a time before, so it seemed almost kind of cruel to me. I am not "one of those people" who thinks animals think the same way humans do (no offense to anyone who might think that way lol) but at the same time I think it's not very nice to an animal to deprive it of something essential to health (being on the ground, eating grass/dirt, dust bathing) Especially when they are used to getting those things every day, and then to suddenly be shut off from it for almost a week.

Sorry, I know I probably appear too sensitive to a lot of you. I just don't want my babies to be locked up for days, and then possibly eaten (these people live in the country with coyotes, bobcats, dogs running around, etc...) I keep telling myself that I can't worry about them anymore.

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

Hi, hope you don't think I'm mean, I adore my chickens and when I would get new ones from my neighbor, now this is only because I do love them so much I would keep them in the chicken house for 3 to 4 days maybe a day or two longer.

Reason for this was to insure their safety that they wouldn't run, fly off somewhere, this way they learn to hang out with their new coop mates and learn this is where they will be safe and to come in at night with the rest.

 

[yotetrapper]

I think the vast majority of chicken owners lock their chickens in their new coop for at least several days before turning them loose.

 

[countrybum]

Well I have a coop inside my pen. Whenever I add new chicks everyone is locked in the pen for a couple days 2/3 only. The coop is 10x10 and the pen is 24x32 which gives them pleanty of roaming room. The only ones that have a problem are the older chickens that love free ranging. They will just sit at the gate waiting for me to open the door and let them out. Anyone can make a temporary encloser off a coop for a few days.

If I had problems getting the new babies in the coop at night, I would just walk them around the pen until they ran in the coop for safety. Has worked well for me.

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

Yaeh forgot to mention that, mine would look at me when I came out to check on them and say hey what's the deal let us out!!!

 

[Brickman House]

Yeah, sorry, but I'm kind of with everyone else on this one-- they did things exactly right.

Each time I've had a new batch of chicks go out to the coop, I've confined them to the coop for several days so that they learn where "home base" is.

Once I let them out, it does take several more days for them to get the hang of going back to the coop at night to sleep, but it has nothing to do with "hating" the coop-- they're just learning the routine.

 

[gritsar]

As I said before, my chickens first home was the screened porch. The first time I locked them in the coop I let them out after a week. Didn't work. That night they lined up at the screened porch door again. My DH's precious harley was sitting on the walkway and Thor decided since I wouldn't open the door, he'd just roost on the harley. That could have been an immediate death sentence had I not spotted him before my DH did.
That night they went back into lockdown in the coop for another week. They finally got the message.
I made sure they were comfortable, had plenty of food and water and spent time with them each day, but the lockdown was necessary.