- Mar 3, 2011
- 231
- 54
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So we got a new automatic door 3 days ago and were excited to use it. Our goal was to allow our 14 hens and two roosters to go out and enjoy the cool morning free range in our one acre yard. Now, take note I have very skittish chickens (I had chickens before but never so skittish), they are 4 months old but the most skittish of all is one rooster and the other rooster picks up on his fears. He dramatically changed once hormones kicked in, before that he was always in our laps cuddling with us.
So the door was installed, chickens were naturally scared of all the drilling and hammering. We installed it in the morning so the chickens had all the rest of the day to recover. Well evening comes and some hens want to go to sleep in the coop but the roosters are preventing them. They are herding them away vocalizing something in chicken language that means the coop is now very dangerous.
Several hens with good sense, decided to ignore the roosters and went to sleep in the coop regardless. After them followed several more and the roosters were forced to follow them inside the coop. Only 3 hens remained out and decided to sleep on a tree. They probably got tired of the roosters telling them to stay away from the coop. We went to get them in the dark (thanks to advice found here it was easy peasy) and placed them in the coop.
The rooster was extra stressed when we opened the coop door to place them in and almost attacked us if we didn't close the door in time. I guess in the dark he becomes more reactive. He never tried to attack in the past despite being fearful.
Anyhow, every since this, we are keeping all chcken in a fenced yard rather than free range so they are forced to get used to the new door and would not pick to sleep elsewhere in the yard. They are now doing better realizing that the coop is not a threat, but they literally freak out when the automatic door shuts open and close.
Anybody ever dealt with this problem? We set it to open in the early morning so they associate its opening with being released from the coop and get to enjoy the cool air, and we set it to close late at night so that they are sleepy and less reactive, but this is NOT working.
In the morning, they are too scared to get out. It takes them 4 hours to decided to come out. At night, when it closes, they are flying around bouncing against the walls like inside a washing machine and the rooster makes his threat call that alarms everybody. It is not getting better, actually I think it is getting worse because now everybody freaks out also when my husband goes to close the other door, at dusk which we keep open during the day.
Problem is we cannot return the door, there is a hole in our coop if we remove it and we really want the chickens to use it. They are so stressed that the hens started making eggs last week and now for almost 4 days they have not made any. Also, because of all these recent changes they act more skittish towards us despite the fact we feed them meal worms every day.
Are we the only ones with chickens terrorized of automatic doors? The door is pretty quiet making just a little churning noise.
So the door was installed, chickens were naturally scared of all the drilling and hammering. We installed it in the morning so the chickens had all the rest of the day to recover. Well evening comes and some hens want to go to sleep in the coop but the roosters are preventing them. They are herding them away vocalizing something in chicken language that means the coop is now very dangerous.
Several hens with good sense, decided to ignore the roosters and went to sleep in the coop regardless. After them followed several more and the roosters were forced to follow them inside the coop. Only 3 hens remained out and decided to sleep on a tree. They probably got tired of the roosters telling them to stay away from the coop. We went to get them in the dark (thanks to advice found here it was easy peasy) and placed them in the coop.
The rooster was extra stressed when we opened the coop door to place them in and almost attacked us if we didn't close the door in time. I guess in the dark he becomes more reactive. He never tried to attack in the past despite being fearful.
Anyhow, every since this, we are keeping all chcken in a fenced yard rather than free range so they are forced to get used to the new door and would not pick to sleep elsewhere in the yard. They are now doing better realizing that the coop is not a threat, but they literally freak out when the automatic door shuts open and close.
Anybody ever dealt with this problem? We set it to open in the early morning so they associate its opening with being released from the coop and get to enjoy the cool air, and we set it to close late at night so that they are sleepy and less reactive, but this is NOT working.
In the morning, they are too scared to get out. It takes them 4 hours to decided to come out. At night, when it closes, they are flying around bouncing against the walls like inside a washing machine and the rooster makes his threat call that alarms everybody. It is not getting better, actually I think it is getting worse because now everybody freaks out also when my husband goes to close the other door, at dusk which we keep open during the day.
Problem is we cannot return the door, there is a hole in our coop if we remove it and we really want the chickens to use it. They are so stressed that the hens started making eggs last week and now for almost 4 days they have not made any. Also, because of all these recent changes they act more skittish towards us despite the fact we feed them meal worms every day.
Are we the only ones with chickens terrorized of automatic doors? The door is pretty quiet making just a little churning noise.
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