MaybeItsFine
In the Brooder
- Jul 18, 2023
- 8
- 6
- 11
relevant information:
- 4 chickens (1barred rocks, 1 cinnamon queen, 2 Rhode Island reds)
- all of the chickens are 5 months old and three of them have started to lay within the last 2 weeks.
- Located in middle Tennessee, near Nashville
- using this chicken coop and run: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...WvuF84ZTA5R8qJrLoeTjXDSNvfDYafDsaAq8tEALw_wcB
I am brand new to chickens and I love them! Since moving the girls from the brooder to the coop when they were about 2.5 months old - spring was weird this year, everything has seemed pretty smooth. They’d go into their coop every night at dusk, sleep soundly and come out even their door opens at 5:15am. In the past 2 weeks or so, it has been HOT. To add to the general discomfort, the humidity is the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life (and I’m from southern Louisiana!) I noticed that the girls stopped going into their coop at night and instead sleep on the porch in their run. I did some research and read that chickens may avoid their coop because they felt it wasn’t clean enough out because of pests. I usually keep a pretty clean coop, but I went in and replaced all of the bedding. While cleaning, I kept an eye out for signs of bugs or mice but saw nothing. We’re forecasted for some strong thunderstorms tonight, so I put the chickens in the coop and manually shut their door. I threw some scratch in to maybe incentivize them to be okay with the coop again. I put a 10” fan in there with them too.
They are not happy. Particularly one of my RIRs has been squawking for 10 minutes straight. Does anyone have any ideas on why they hate it in there all of a sudden? How do I get them to go back in the coop at night? I’m not comfortable with them sleeping out in the open when there are cats that roam the neighborhood and the potential for raccoons (which I fortunately have not seen *knock on wood*)
Thank you for reading this far and for any *kind* advice you can offer!
Pictures of the coop interior and full structure attached.
- 4 chickens (1barred rocks, 1 cinnamon queen, 2 Rhode Island reds)
- all of the chickens are 5 months old and three of them have started to lay within the last 2 weeks.
- Located in middle Tennessee, near Nashville
- using this chicken coop and run: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...WvuF84ZTA5R8qJrLoeTjXDSNvfDYafDsaAq8tEALw_wcB
I am brand new to chickens and I love them! Since moving the girls from the brooder to the coop when they were about 2.5 months old - spring was weird this year, everything has seemed pretty smooth. They’d go into their coop every night at dusk, sleep soundly and come out even their door opens at 5:15am. In the past 2 weeks or so, it has been HOT. To add to the general discomfort, the humidity is the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life (and I’m from southern Louisiana!) I noticed that the girls stopped going into their coop at night and instead sleep on the porch in their run. I did some research and read that chickens may avoid their coop because they felt it wasn’t clean enough out because of pests. I usually keep a pretty clean coop, but I went in and replaced all of the bedding. While cleaning, I kept an eye out for signs of bugs or mice but saw nothing. We’re forecasted for some strong thunderstorms tonight, so I put the chickens in the coop and manually shut their door. I threw some scratch in to maybe incentivize them to be okay with the coop again. I put a 10” fan in there with them too.
They are not happy. Particularly one of my RIRs has been squawking for 10 minutes straight. Does anyone have any ideas on why they hate it in there all of a sudden? How do I get them to go back in the coop at night? I’m not comfortable with them sleeping out in the open when there are cats that roam the neighborhood and the potential for raccoons (which I fortunately have not seen *knock on wood*)
Thank you for reading this far and for any *kind* advice you can offer!
Pictures of the coop interior and full structure attached.