Bedtime shenanigans

[Ihadanidea]

Please be gentle—these are my first chicks!

My little flock is five weeks old. They were in the brooder for three weeks, then in the coop with the door blocked for another couple of weeks until they were fully feathered. Today they went out in the run for the first time. I went to make sure that they got safely back into the coop for the night at sunset (and to make sure no one got caught in the automated door), and they were all still living their best naughty toddler lives, pecking and scratching about in the run. It was a significant challenge to get them all in, though once they went in, they did stay there.

Do they need training in how to go to bed at night? How does one do that? Or am I a clueless newbie that just needs to settle down and quit worrying?

 

[DobieLover]

Please post pictures of your coop and run setup.

Yes, they will stay out as long as possible and get 'stuck' out if you have an automatic door. I would disable it until they have figured things out and just manually close and open it for them.

Without a mother hen to teach them these things, it takes longer for them to figure it out on their own. So you will need to bring them in at the same time every evening. The way I taught young chicks to go up a ramp and into their coop at night was to put a trail of mealworms on the ramp. The boldest one will go first and others will watch. Make sure to toss some deep inside the coop to keep the ones that went up inside. Once they figure it out, just toss the mealworms into the coop and call them. Do the same thing every night and they will figure it out quickly.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I agree about the automatic door during this time-they’re not ready for that. Another way I’ve done it is to wait until they go to sleep (I put a box or something in the run. Sometimes they use it and sometimes they don’t) but once they’re asleep in a pile the way they slept in their brooder they are easy to pick up and put in the coop. Then open the door to let them out the next morning. You will still have to do this a couple times. You can also try putting a couple chicks up and seeing if the others follow. You’ll have to see what works for you. Have fun! The first night they go in by themselves you will be a proud mama!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do they need training in how to go to bed at night?

They will put themselves to bed at night by instinct, provided it gets dark enough for that instinct to kick in. Unless you are pretty lucky though you may need to train them where to go to bed.

How does one do that?

The way I do it is to wait until it is dark enough for them to try to sleep in a group and they are pretty easy to catch. Then I move them to the coop and lock them in for the night.

I generally work in groups of around 20 chicks. One time every chick went into the coop the night after I put them in. One time. A couple of times I've had to put them in every night for three weeks before the last few went in on their own. With most groups a few start going in after two or three nights of putting them in and they all go in after a week or so but each group is different, even if the conditions are the same. It can be amazing how different individual chick's personalities can be and how much the flock dynamics can vary.

Or am I a clueless newbie that just needs to settle down and quit worrying?

I don't know any cure for that except hang around long enough to not be a newbie and keep asking questions. Even then, each time can be different.

 

[rosemarythyme]

One additional thing to consider is how easy/hard is it for the chicks to access the coop? If the coop is elevated and access is via ramp, they really do not instinctively use ramps - you need to train them to it, and make sure that the angle is moderate enough (like 30 degrees) that they can easily climb it.

 

[Ihadanidea]

Well.....things took a bit of a turn. The second night (last night), I went, armed with a huge number of mealworms, to help them learn to climb the ramp and put themselves to bed.

When I went out there, though, the run was waaaay too quiet. Raccoons (I think) got 8 of the 9. There were headless, unbloody chicks scattered all over. One rooster managed to escape into the coop and perched himself up on the highest roost bar, from which he was not interested at all in leaving (and I don't blame him).

We will be enclosing the top of the run and excluding a tree that was inside the fenceline. We figured that the tree would help provide the chicks with cover for aerial predators, but instead it just was a ladder for the raccoons to get in. [multiple expletives describing said raccoons and casting aspersions on their parentage, hygiene, and habits deleted] The bottom of the run has a horizontal layer bent out a couple feet to prevent diggers, but we were vulnerable from the top. That won't continue.

I feel terrible. Poor babies. And poor traumatized survivor. Tonight after dark I'll be moving the younger chicks from the brooder (they're fully feathered now) in with him so that he's not alone.