I do not post on this forum very often but I am kind of at a loss at my chicken behavior and I was hoping for some advice. I built my coop in my barn with a roost nest boxes and feeder and the girls were roosting at night without issue. I recently put a roost in there run so they could roost during the day. They love it so much that they don't roost in there coop at night at all and it has been rainy and even down to 20 degrees and they still roost at night out in the run. They are laying eggs and go in during the day to eat but at night they are outside. Is this something I should worry about as it gets colder? Should I pull the roost down to make them go in? Any thoughts from those with more experience than I is appreciated. Thank you much.
I had a similar issue. My new batch of chickens would not go into the coop, but were sleeping outside in the run on the ladder roost. Every night I would go out and pick them up and carry them inside. I thought it would never end, but then 1 started going into the coop with the other, older chickens. A couple of days later, two were in. Finally all six of them made it in, and go in every night. How much roost space do you have inside vs outside. Is the outside roost higher or lower than the inside roosts? I would try and make the inside more appealing, add another roost there, make it the highest roost etc. What about light? I have a light in the pen that goes out 30 minutes sooner than the coop light, so the coop has light when they want to go inside. You could also pick them up and toss them inside each night. It took my chickens 3 weeks to learn, but they finally got the message!
I will try the light thing. The roost space seems about he same in height and space. I might just have to pick them up and carry them in. Thanks for the help.
We had the same problem. We had to pick them up every night and put them in their coop until they learned to go in on their own. Haven't had any problems since. Good luck.
I trained my chickens to follow my shaking a coffee can of scratch. They also know they are getting scratch or something else yummy in their coop at bedtime so stand at the backdoor waiting for me if I am late. It is handy to be able to round them up quickly. They will go in pretty much anyplace now so long as the coffee can of scratch is shaking.