Chicken won’t go in hen house at night

[ryder lake]

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.

get an older exsperienced chicken and put it in there and they will follow it, or keep the food in the hen house

 

[Alysharp]

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.

Mine do the same!!!! 18 weeks old.

 

[Eggs by Happy Chickens]

I would place feed or treats in there when it starts to get dark.

 

[Mark Park]

Do they have perches to roost on in there?

 

[Bkydchickens]

We had a small house when our girls were little & were in it longer than they should, but they went in a dusk no problem. We built them a nice house 64 sq feet for 5 (2 brahama 3 orps). We put the same nest box removed from their old house & put in the new. But they still wanted to roost in the old house. So I moved it so they could see it but not use it & at dusk we put treats inside the door of their new house & used water guns to encourage them to go in on their own. We just needed to convince the dominate girl &/or the informer. The others follow. They slept inside against the door for a few weeks til they accepted it. We have a webcam on them so we know what's going on in there. They march in there promptly at dusk & the same lower ranking girl stands guard at the door til we come close it. But they dont like it if I change anything in their house. But I concentrate on the leader to accept it. If she does they all do. We put a ridge vent across the entire top. A fan on one side & an exhaust fan for greenhouses on the opposite side & zip tied a couple of those emergency blankets with the silver coating to the roof. Those blankets drop the heat inside great! Its 100 outside feel like 113, 85 inside their house. I put freezer packs in the nest boxes & frozen blueberries or the sort in water & set near their nest boxes. They like their house & we still get eggs from all of them almost everyday.

 

[the urban chicken]

FWIW, I put some scratch into a quart size yogurt container. When it's time for the girls to go into the coop (my set up is that the coop is above a small enclosed run), I shake the container and they come running (literally). I toss a bit of the scratch into the run and when they r all inside, I close the door.

 

[RebelChief]

Hello.
It could be the temperature of the hen house. But what I found out because I’m new to keeping chickens. My 7 hens (no rooster at the time) did this all of a sudden and I being new to keeping chickens as I said before. There was a black snake living inside of the hen house. The black snake was eating my eggs on a daily basis.

He was eating really good until I figured it out. I figured it out, because at the time they were young hens laying 7 eggs a day. then I went to collect the eggs. Started to notice I was getting maybe 4/5 eggs a day. That’s when I found the snake inside of the nesting box.

The chickens would lay on the snake which was under the straw bedding. Chickens would lay the eggs. I guess keeping the snake warm in the process, not harming the chickens. Lay the eggs. Then the snake would eat the eggs.
CRAZY RIGHT!!

I have an Indigo snake around my property. Now I'm scared to go in my coop. If I find him in there I will crap myself. I would have to burn the coop down. My 7 have been slacking on the laying lately (been battling broodieness) so now I'm scared I have a snake in there eating their eggs. Ugh. Going to have nightmares.

 

[Mark Park]

I have an Indigo snake around my property. Now I'm scared to go in my coop. If I find him in there I will crap myself. I would have to burn the coop down. My 7 have been slacking on the laying lately (been battling broodieness) so now I'm scared I have a snake in there eating their eggs. Ugh. Going to have nightmares.

Yeah at first I thought rats or mites (or snakes) but the house looks clean and nice. I'm starting to think it's just not having perches to roost on.

 

[Wyoyell]

get an older exsperienced chicken and put it in there and they will follow it, or keep the food in the hen house

Mine caught on after about five days. The first night I think we may have had the roost to high. We lowered it and they began to slowly catch on....lol. Good luck...

 

[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.

.