My hens have been in the coop since they were about 6 weeks old. They had a heat lamp on until recently. They are now full grown and it has been fairly warm here so I unplugged it. When the light was on they all went inside at night and roosted. Now three of my hens go into the coop at night but they sleep cuddled up in the corner on the floor. My one hen refuses to go into the coop at night and puts up a fight when I put her into the coop. What should I do?
I put my chickens up on the roost every night for 2-4 nights and they got the hang of it. I checked every hour to make sure they were still on it. I had to put one back on the roost every so often. I also had to take one out of the nest and put her on the roost. It only took 3-4 nights. The clean up is easier if they are on the roost. It is in one area. I take a kitty litter scooper and scoop the majority of it up and toss it in the compost. I also don't want my chickens sitting in poop.
One other thing to try. Put a low watt bulb in the heat lamp or any lamp just for light. Then plug the lamp in to a timer set to come on before sun set. Set the off time to turn off an hour after sun set. By the time the days lengthen past the timer settings they should have been trained to roost before it gets dark in the coop.
