Chicken bed time

[GSPx2]

I'm only a week in for owning chickens, but I have noticed my 2 girls will go in their coop maybe an hour before sun down.

I started with two hens over 20 weeks old. The first night one went in the coop and the other stayed out side in the pen. After that night they have been going in the coop before dark with no problem at all.

 

[MzPlacedHippie]

Mine roost in a tree over the coop. I see them heading up just as it gets dark every evening. I count and make sure everyone is there.

 

[bdjh]

We're new owners, too, and maybe we've been lucky, but ever since we got them at 8 weeks old, every night at dusk, they just troop into the coop and go to bed. They used to all roost on the roosting bars I made for them, but they seem to prefer jumping up and roosting on the rafters of their coop. Maybe it's warmer, cooler, or just 'better' up there?

It seems to be a 'light' thing with them.......because they'll go in later if it's a clear night, and earlier if it's a darker, cloudier night.

Trying to make them go in would be like herding cats......if you got one in, two would jump out.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

I had always planned on locking them in the coop for a few days so they could bond with the coop and see it has home. But I never had to do that. The first coop I got was one of those horrible tiny store bought coops, there was no way in heck I could have kept all the birds in it constantly for a few days. We kept that coop long enough to get the big shed/coop built and when I moved them into it they just "got it" even though I had had to put them in the small coop every night.

Mine go to roost around 8:30 and I just lock them in. Their coop is on the east side of the garage though so it gets dark fast. Around 7 they start getting really lazy and roost on their outside "jungle gym" but still go to the coop no issues every night.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

We're new owners, too, and maybe we've been lucky, but ever since we got them at 8 weeks old, every night at dusk, they just troop into the coop and go to bed. They used to all roost on the roosting bars I made for them, but they seem to prefer jumping up and roosting on the rafters of their coop. Maybe it's warmer, cooler, or just 'better' up there?

It seems to be a 'light' thing with them.......because they'll go in later if it's a clear night, and earlier if it's a darker, cloudier night.

Trying to make them go in would be like herding cats......if you got one in, two would jump out.

They will roost as high as they can get. I had to add higher roosting bars because all six of mine would try and fight over a little spot above a window that will only hold one of them.