Chicken won’t go in hen house at night

[Dee123]

My flock on average are 70 days old. There are 12 of them and at night they huddle out side the hen house and I have to pick each one up every night to put to bed about 9pm. They aren’t afraid of the house. It’s completely predator proof and they go in and out all day long. They are getting heavy and I don’t know how to get them to go in by themselves.

Typically, chickens will go in to roost on their own when it starts getting dark (dusk). Just as a rooster knows to start crowing at dawn, chickens instinctively know to head in when it starts getting dark.

 

[Bobswing1]

Sometimes chickens get fussy and won't go in if the coop is dark. I had this problem at first and turned on a light and after about a week they now go in before it gets dark in the coop and they go straight to roost now. This worked for me and not going to guarantee it will for you.

 

[Karalyn]

I had the same problem with mine. When I got my first three, they wouldn’t go into the coop at night. After I spent about 5 days and installing a night light over the coop door they finally started putting themselves to bed. When I upgraded the chickens coop I had the problem of convincing them that their new sleeping place was the nice big coop. It took again about 4-5 days of carrying them from the old coop to the new one at night before they learned. I also have a night light in the new coop so there is a little light for them to see by. I just came to the conclusion that chickens need to be shown what is expected and after being exposed to the new situation a couple of times they pick it up.

 

[gbtinsley]

My flock on average are 70 days old. There are 12 of them and at night they huddle out side the hen house and I have to pick each one up every night to put to bed about 9pm. They aren’t afraid of the house. It’s completely predator proof and they go in and out all day long. They are getting heavy and I don’t know how to get them to go in by themselves.

We had to put our chicks on their roost every night for about 2 weeks. We were surprised when we went to put them on their roost one night & they were already there. They had climbed the ladder & were huddled together on their roost. Every night about 8pm they go up the ladder to their roost.

 

[Karalyn]

I now have around 35 chickens and I would never consider locking them in any size building for any amount of time (even one day). Besides being cruel (in my opinion) with my luck my girls would probably take that to mean they had to stay in there all the time.

 

[Karalyn]

Typically, chickens will go in to roost on their own when it starts getting dark (dusk). Just as a rooster knows to start crowing at dawn, chickens instinctively know to head in when it starts getting dark.

I wish mine waited until dawn. I have a rooster that is sometimes crowing at 0430.

 

[Krisengle]

My flock on average are 70 days old. There are 12 of them and at night they huddle out side the hen house and I have to pick each one up every night to put to bed about 9pm. They aren’t afraid of the house. It’s completely predator proof and they go in and out all day long. They are getting heavy and I don’t know how to get them to go in by themselves.

I put there feed in the coop right before bed and treats

 

[PrimroseMom1]

My flock on average are 70 days old. There are 12 of them and at night they huddle out side the hen house and I have to pick each one up every night to put to bed about 9pm. They aren’t afraid of the house. It’s completely predator proof and they go in and out all day long. They are getting heavy and I don’t know how to get them to go in by themselves.

I don’t know how hot it is in West Virginia right now, but here in Louisiana my chickens would die in that coop. I built my coop so that every side but the back can be opened up one by one as the days get hotter. I have panels to close up the sides in the winter. Right now all sides are open AND there’s a fan. Maybe, as others have mentioned, it’s too hot in there.

 

[kodster]

So are you putting them in before dark, or after dark? If you get them in before it gets dark, then they should get used to settling down to sleep inside.

I can think of two ways to get them in:

Put something tasty inside, then shut them in when they go in to eat.

"Something tasty" might just be their usual food with some water added--chickens seem to really like it that way.

Or herd them in. Just walk toward them, so they walk away from you--and keep steering them toward the doorway. Then shut them in.

If they're so tame they'll stand still and get stepped on, herding won't work. But as long as they're willing to move a little away, it does work. No need to run and chase, you just want them to wander calmly the correct direction.

This is what I do when I want my birds in for the night, or even during a thunderstorm during the day, because they'll stay out during the storm. I don't run at them, I just put my arms out straight to the sides, and walk towards them, leaning in a little. It's like I'm a predator to them, and they run to safety, which is inside the coop. When everyone is inside, I drop their chicken door down, and we're secured for the night.

However, my run is just as secure as the coop, so most times I don't even bother closing them up inside... the door is left open all the time, and they put themselves to bed. I'll check on them after dark, and not a single bird is in the run, all inside roosting. The only time I will put them inside and secure them is if I know we have a major storm coming in, and I want them in shelter.

 

[kodster]

Thanks for your insight but I love them. They will lay me delicious eggs but I’ll never eat them. What I’m getting at is that if they were just food then I might try locking them up but I don’t want to ruin our bond by doing that.

Locking them up for a week inside is to get them used to the new digs, so that they learn to associate the coop as part of their new territory. It's a normal training process to do this, not harm them. This is likely why they're not going inside at night... they're not associating it as their new home, and you and your wife putting them back in the brooder is just prolonging the process.