Chicken bedtime is rough

[pollopdx]

Hello, first time posting. My chickens have been outside for three nights now in their henhouse, and they are going in and out of it in the daytime just fine. At night, I've set my auto door to close at 8pm and I'd like them to get into bed by then... but it's been a bit of a mess stuffing them in and having them all try to sprint back out. Do I just need to wait longer (sunset is at 8:13 here)... we have REALLY long dusks in the summer that can go until 10pm so I'm wondering if dusk is what does it or if they can be on a time routine throughout the year. I don't really want to set up a bedtime routine that requires giving them treats every night but maybe I should do that for now until they get used to coming in at night? Thanks for advice.

 

[AidKD]

Chickens kinda set their own bedtime, so if you let them go for a few days you can figure out what time they go in at and then set your automatic door. You can count that they'll go in at a certain time every night, especially if you have a rooster.

 

[Party_Chicken]

My rooster has all the hens go into there run when it starts to get dark (if they are free ranging) and has them in the coop as soon as possible I am putting them away around 7 each night

 

[rosemarythyme]

Set your auto door for some time after dusk. So if sunset is at 7, I have the door set to 7:30. It does mean you will need to adjust it as the days grow longer. Their instincts should tell them to go in when it's nearly dark.

 

[21hens-incharge]

They are new to being in that coop right?

It takes time for them to get the hang of it especially if there are no adults to learn from.

I would keep gathering them up and putting them inside. It may take a week or two but eventually they figure out if they don't want touched they should go in.
It took mine 2 weeks even with adults to watch.

 

[Sussex19]

Trying to get chickens to go to bed before they are ready is a nightmare come true.
Is there any reason that you can't just set the timer a bit later so they can go to bed in their own time?
That is the only thing that would work, unless you can go out there every evening and maybe throw a little bit of scratch in the coop to get them to go in?