Brooder to coop transition

[Elgoner37]

Hey Everyone! We just transitioned our free ranging chickens from the brooder to the coop yesterday. I was reading ways to coop train you chickens, and the consensus is to leave your chickens inside your coop for 3 days to about a week. We have the Eglu Cube and I’m a little worried it is too small and dark to leave the chickens in there for a few days. My question is can we just let out during the daytime but within the chicken run (6 feet)? Or do we need to explicitly leave them inside the coop?

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

They can go in the run, don't worry. Once they know where the food, water, and safety are they will be great.

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't ever lock mine in the coop. I will confine them to the coop and run. But let them choose to go in or out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I see you've been here a whole week but I'll still say welcome, glad you joined.

One thing you should notice is that we keep chickens in all kinds of different conditions, climates, set-ups, and with different goals and management techniques. We do things a lot of different ways. There is almost nothing to do with chickens where one way is the only right way where every other way is wrong. There are many different right ways to do it.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. The only dumb question is the one not asked. You don't want your chickens to be hurt because you are afraid to ask a question.

My question is can we just let out during the daytime but within the chicken run (6 feet)? Or do we need to explicitly leave them inside the coop?

Of course you can. Many of us do that, including me. When you move them out one of two things usually happen. They can go into the coop to sleep when it starts getting dark. Or they can settle down to sleep somewhere in the run. Mine often do that, even if I house them in the coop for a week first. That's why I quit doing it. I think my grow-out coop being elevated has something to do with that.

What I do is wait until they settle down for the night, they are easier to catch when it gets a bit dark. Then I lock them in the coop for the night. Some people like to set them on the roosts when they do that but I just toss them on the coop floor. I don't care where they sleep as long as it is inside and not in my nests. When they are ready to roost, they roost.

On rare occasions I only have to do this once before they get the message. A couple of times it's taken three weeks of me consistently putting them inside before the last one got the message. Each batch is different. Most of mine are in the range of 20 chicks and usually it takes about a week to get them all trained.

What I might suggest is to move the out for the first time after dark. Lock them in that coop overnight and let them out the next morning. That might be enough to get them to go to bed in there.

Something else that can happen. Sometimes when I open that coop door to the run for the first time I might have all of mine on the run floor within 15 minutes. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the first one to get brave enough to venture outside. I feed and water inside and out so I just let them figure it out at their own pace. They will, just be patient. It will not hurt them to figure it out at their own pace.

Good luck and once again,

 

[Elgoner37]

I see you've been here a whole week but I'll still say welcome, glad you joined.

One thing you should notice is that we keep chickens in all kinds of different conditions, climates, set-ups, and with different goals and management techniques. We do things a lot of different ways. There is almost nothing to do with chickens where one way is the only right way where every other way is wrong. There are many different right ways to do it.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. The only dumb question is the one not asked. You don't want your chickens to be hurt because you are afraid to ask a question.


Of course you can. Many of us do that, including me. When you move them out one of two things usually happen. They can go into the coop to sleep when it starts getting dark. Or they can settle down to sleep somewhere in the run. Mine often do that, even if I house them in the coop for a week first. That's why I quit doing it. I think my grow-out coop being elevated has something to do with that.

What I do is wait until they settle down for the night, they are easier to catch when it gets a bit dark. Then I lock them in the coop for the night. Some people like to set them on the roosts when they do that but I just toss them on the coop floor. I don't care where they sleep as long as it is inside and not in my nests. When they are ready to roost, they roost.

On rare occasions I only have to do this once before they get the message. A couple of times it's taken three weeks of me consistently putting them inside before the last one got the message. Each batch is different. Most of mine are in the range of 20 chicks and usually it takes about a week to get them all trained.

What I might suggest is to move the out for the first time after dark. Lock them in that coop overnight and let them out the next morning. That might be enough to get them to go to bed in there.

Something else that can happen. Sometimes when I open that coop door to the run for the first time I might have all of mine on the run floor within 15 minutes. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the first one to get brave enough to venture outside. I feed and water inside and out so I just let them figure it out at their own pace. They will, just be patient. It will not hurt them to figure it out at their own pace.

Good luck and once again,

Thanks for your very informative response. I’ll definitely try follow your advice. Will update you in a few!