Chicken Won’t Go in Coop

[BecKub]

Hey all,
I have 36 chickens of mostly mixed breeds. We recently added pullets to the flock which are probably 24 weeks old now (got them over a month ago). 2 of those are Amerucanas. They seem to get picked on the most and try to stay away from the others for the most part. At night, one of them keeps jumping out of our enclosure and roosting in an adjacent shed. Every single night we have to go get her and put her in the coop. It’s getting extremely annoying and inconvenient. Is there any way we can get her to go in the coop at night?! I’m assuming it’s because she gets picked on, but there are plenty of spots where she can roost away from the other chickens. In fact, when we put her in there each night we have her roost separately so she’s not picked on first thing in the morning.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[grayjay11o]

have you tried locking her in the coop for a couple of days?

 

[21hens-incharge]

An 8x12 is not big enough for 36.

It is 96 square feet so if there is nothing taking up space like nest boxes or feed stations it can hold 24 comfortably.

The run is big enough to handle 19 birds.

Might need to expand.

 

[aart]

Did that 1 ever sleep in the coop?
How many birds did you add and how did you add them?

First thought is, cover the top of the enclosure.
Second thought is, how big is your coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics, inside and out, might help someone spot a problem/solution.

 

[BecKub]

Were they 'quarantined' next tot he coop and run?
How long has it been since the night addition?
How many new birds were added?

Please post them here.

The quarantine coop was close to the coop and run but not right next to it. We couldn’t get it that close with the lay of the land.
They’ve been in the big coop for about a month and there were 7 added at that time. Another ameraucana and 5 production reds.

 

[so lucky]

One thing I have found about EEs: if they have the ear muffs they are at a disadvantage. Can't find food or treats, don't see others sneaking up on them, they are naturals to be bullied. You might try trimming their ear muffs down short, so they can see.

 

[aart]

One thing I have found about EEs: if they have the ear muffs they are at a disadvantage. Can't find food or treats, don't see others sneaking up on them, they are naturals to be bullied. You might try trimming their ear muffs down short, so they can see.

That might be true if they have massive muffs....but not answer to this scenario.

Your birds are crowded, which makes integration much harder.
There are some things you could do alleviate to crowding stress.
Pics of coop(inside and out) and run will garner some viable suggestions.

 

[BecKub]

have you tried locking her in the coop for a couple of days?

have you tried locking her in the coop for a couple of days?

I haven’t but that was my first guess. I’d have to maybe put her in a wire dog crate in the coop to keep her in there so the other girls can still go in and out. Is that the easiest idea?

 

[BecKub]

Did that 1 ever sleep in the coop?
How many birds did you add and how did you add them?

First thought is, cover the top of the enclosure.
Second thought is, how big is your coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics, inside and out, might help someone spot a problem/solution.

Yes she has been found in the coop at night before on her own. Generally away from all the other birds.
They were quarantined separately for 5 days and then placed in the coop after dark the last night.

Coop is about 12’ x 8’ and run is 12’ x 16’. The coop was an old shed so ceiling is high. They’re let out into the yard during the day so they’re only in the run for a short while.

 

[BecKub]

https://www.facebook.com/HilltopFarmPA/

There’s some pics on my Facebook page of the coop. Might be older pics but gives an idea of size.