Chickens not going in coop at night

Lee912

Chirping
Apr 20, 2018
26
26
54
Loganville GA
My 4 chickens, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Asian Pullets, have been in their outdoor coop for about 2 weeks and I still have to put them in the coop at night. I have given them some time at night to put themselves in but I find them outside on a roost bar all together instead so I put them in myself. The question I have is should I still continue to help them or should I let them try to figure it out themselves? They are in an enclosure that keeps predators out so they are safe but I would like them inside the coop at night. Any suggestions?
 
Keep putting them in the roost or coop your self. They will eventually learn to get in there, usually takes 1-2 months to get used to getting in there at night.
 
We them earn themselves they will learn. Chickens don't like to see preditor's so at late night they will go in
 
My 4 chickens, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Asian Pullets, have been in their outdoor coop for about 2 weeks and I still have to put them in the coop at night. I have given them some time at night to put themselves in but I find them outside on a roost bar all together instead so I put them in myself. The question I have is should I still continue to help them or should I let them try to figure it out themselves? They are in an enclosure that keeps predators out so they are safe but I would like them inside the coop at night. Any suggestions?

This is what I did for my chicks. I have a prefab coop and I needed to scoop them up and put them in the upper part of their coop at night at first as well because they wouldn't go on their own. We have these solar lights that you can stick in the ground. You might see them line driveways or flowerbeds or something like that. Well, the tops can come out. So what we did was take the part that is removable and lights up and put one to the side of the door to the inside of the coop so it was lit up. And then we put a second one on the inside a little farther back. They don't really "light" the inside up but do give off enough to get the chicks attention so the inside isn't as dark and scary to go in to anymore. Then I would just remove the lights as I locked them up in the coop. I only had to use the lights 3 times and then they started going up on their own without any help. It almost works like a little night lite. Just giving off enough glow to help them see, but small enough that you can remove. So maybe something like that or something battery powered that is small like that may work for you. I hope that helps! If I need to clarify anything, just give me a shout and I will try. Good luck!
 
To add onto what CrazyCrtter75 said, if there's not enough natural lighting inside the coop at dusk yes you should consider adding some sort of light or enough windows to let in light. Chickens can't see well in the dark and don't want to go into a dark coop.

Another thing to look at is the height of the roost in the run, since you mentioned they're using that instead. Is it higher than the one inside the coop? Chickens will tend to choose the highest roost as that makes them feel safer.
 
My newbies have not been going inside at night either. So yesterday I reevaluated the lighting, and found it to be insufficient (have just added more vents as well). Now it wasn't that there was not enuf light, it did not illuminate what/where they wanted it.
So I took it down and relocated it so it spotted the ladder, and the lower roosts. It worked, last night all were on the roosts, I happily turned the light off and locked the door.
 

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