My family has a small flock of chickens, who roost in trees at night. Some of our chickens will come down when we call them, but the rest won't come down and stay in the trees until morning. We try to get the chickens back in the coop every night, but yesterday, I came out (just a tiny bit before it was completely dark) to discover that one of our chickens was eaten by raccoons . Now, all of the chickens are too afraid to come down, and we've tried putting food on the ground, calling their names, shaking the branch with a rake and that kind of stuff. Any ideas?
A long stick, GENTLY knock them down. And as for prevention make sure there is high roosts in your coop and put them in earlier, also could entice them with a before bed-time snack.
I'd build a run onto that coop, put feed and water in the run, get them in there and lock them in for a few weeks. Since they've already gotten into the habit of roosting in the trees, it may be hard to rehome them. Raccoons are only one threat. I had a flock that roosted in the trees and the Great Horned Owls that live in my grove found them. I'd come out in the morning and find headless chicken bodies under the trees.
