Chicken lights

Hen-She

Chirping
Mar 16, 2023
19
79
56
West Michigan
Hello -
Our Buff Orpingtons are 6 weeks old and have moved from the brooding box to the hen house and run. Yay, they are growing up so fast! :jumpy
My question is getting them from the run into the hen house at night. Someone mentioned to me that they need a light inside to come in because it’s dark inside, so they stay out where there is more light. DH shined a flashlight inside and sure enough, inside they went.
Didn’t think I would have play Motel 6, “we’ll leave the light on for ya” 😉
Have this happen with your flock? Solutions?
 
Best solution IMO is to have a decent amount of natural light inside the coop, so the chickens can navigate around without need to mess with artificial lighting.
There are two small windows on each side of the house. That’s all that is available. Hopefully they figure it out, they are smart birds. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!
 
Best solution IMO is to have a decent amount of natural light inside the coop, so the chickens can navigate around without need to mess with artificial lighting.
This! :thumbsup

Sometimes people build a coop so dark that the chickens can't see to go to bed when it starts getting dark outside so sometimes it helps to put a temporary light in the coop at bedtime. It doesn't have to be very bright just provide enough light so they can see objects.
There are two small windows on each side of the house.
Once they figure out that they are supposed to go to bed in there, those two windows will probably be enough. You probably will not need to always provide artificial light. I have one "standard" window on the north side of my 8' x 12' coop and my ventilation up high provides more light. Each coop is different.

Have this happen with your flock? Solutions?
I've never had to put a light in the coop to get them to go to bed in there, but usually with my elevated grow-out coop the first time I let them into the run they will not go back into the coop to sleep, even after I've housed them in the coop section only for a week or more. They gather under the pop door to sleep in the run. I wait until dark when they are easy to catch and it's past their bedtime and lock them in the coop until morning. My broods are often in the 20 chick range. Occasionally they all catch on pretty quickly, I have had a couple of broods it took three weeks before the last ones finally caught on. Typically after a couple of nights a few get the message and start going in with all of them going in within a week or so. But each brood is different, even in the same coop and run and at the same age. I generally start this at around 6 weeks of age.
 

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