Changing rooting site

[Luciahrose]

any advice on how to change roosting site? After raccoon attack I am trying to get hens to roost inside their coop instead of on rafters in the run.

 

[sourland]

Can you make the rafters in the run inaccessible ?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can you make the rafters in the run inaccessible ?

Agree, that can help. May not be the final solution though.

The way I do it is to lock them in the coop every night so they have no option but to sleep in there. I wait until it is dark enough to make it easy for me to catch them and toss them on the coop floor, then lock the coop. You need to be consistent, do this every night. Sometimes they catch on really quickly and sometimes it takes a couple of weeks before the last get the message. This assumes they have adequate roost space in the coop and there are not other chickens in there that beat them up if they try to roost in the coop.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

For sure do that and don't feel bad or sorry for them when they complain. They don't like change but soon enough it'll be the new norm. Throw them in there until they go in themselves. I recently put an addition on my coop and they had to get used to roosting in the new room. At first they were mad and kept trying to get back to the old room but now they're happy as can be.

 

[K0k0shka]

If they are used to sleeping in the run and don't have the habit of going into the coop for bed, it may not make a difference if you made the rafters in the run inaccessible. They'll probably just settle down somewhere else in the run. You'll have to teach them to go in, like new chicks - wait until almost bedtime and put them in the coop yourself, through the pop door, the way they are supposed to go in, then close the pop door. Do it before it's too dark though, so they can see what's happening and can see the roosts inside the coop. Once they find themselves inside, they'll go to the roosts on their own - chickens don't like sleeping on the ground.

 

[Luciahrose]

Can you make the rafters in the run inaccessible ?

Haven’t thought of that, maybe

 

[aart]

This assumes they have adequate roost space in the coop and there are not other chickens in there that beat them up if they try to roost in the coop.

...and that the coop is adequately ventilated.

 

[centrarchid]

Haven’t thought of that, maybe

If this approach not stopping predator, then consider an owl may be involved to.

My pet free-range raccoons where a pain when going after free-range chickens in the barn at night. Before I blocked her access, I saw a distinct difference in his crime scene compared to an owl. The raccoon pulled feathers immediately upon contact that spread everywhere and did not have a very localized kill site. The raccoon was fairly large so had no trouble overpowering chickens when compared to a wild raccoon. The owls differed markedly in getting a chicken to fly off roost and subsequently dispatched said chicken in a very small site with little or no signs of struggle.

Blocking owls might be worth considering too.