Chicken won’t go in hen house at night

[Deenok]

Do you think that’s decent ventilation?

 

[Deenok]

So apart from the pop door in the pic, where are the vents at on the coop, how big are they and how many are there?

The top of the roof has a one inch gap the entire 8 ft length and on the left hand side of hen house has a one ft wide and 6 ft tall vent on both sides so air could breeze through. At least that was my thought with it.

 

[Deenok]

Hmm.. I wonder if you made another vent/window closer towards the middle or right side of the pop door area and another one on the opposite wall but right across from the other one? Just a thought. But I’m not chicken whisperer.

I’ll try it for sure. I need to do something. This is getting rediculous lol. Every night I one by one place them in the house saying go to bed sweeties.

 

[NatJ]

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.

 

[Bear1978]

If you decide to do that. Mount the window but outs as shutters with the hinges on the top so it will open up like this pic of how I did mine to allow airflow and to keep the rain out.This is a better pic of what I mean than the pic of mine.

 

[Gtstricky]

I spent 4 days chasing them at dusk and then I put a temporary light in mine, just ran an extension cord. Had it on a timer for 15 min before sunset to 15 after. They learned in 1 day. They were afraid to go in the dark and wanted to stay out in the light longer. Give it a try.

 

[RainbowHen]

Lock them in for a week. A light inside helps a lot.

 

[Deenok]

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.

They don’t run walk away at all they stay perfectly still when I pick them up. So herding definatly doesn’t work. But I put them up every night as soon as I see very very little light outside like 9 or 915. I keep hoping they will get scared and go in by them selves. I handle them every day and I can pet and pick them up but during the day my rooster starts clicking if I pick him up and at night he’s perfectly quiet. It’s almost like they think I’m supposed to pick them up every night to put them to bed

 

[Deenok]

Lock them in for a week. A light inside helps a lot.

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.

 

[Deenok]

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.

The light inside I will try thanks