Chickens not going into their henhouse... will they eventually

[ccabal]

Hi Folks,
I have 4 hens we raised from newborn chicks this May, and now they are almost 5 months old. They haven't started laying any eggs yet... but I am hopeful sometime pretty soon!

We built a nice sized coop for them. Inside the coop there are some roosts that are about 5 and 6 feet high. Every evening they fly up there. and stay up there all night. Inside the coop, I also built them a henhouse, that's completely enclosed, and has 4 nestboxes. I have a ramp for them to walk up into it. But I have not seen them show any desire to go in there. Since its been summer, and here in Texas its pretty hot, they've been happy up in the roosts, and I can understand them not wanting to sleep inside the hot henhouse.

Now that fall is coming, the temperatures have cooled quite a bit. It was mid-50's this morning, My question is, when it gets much colder, are the hens going to be smart enough to forget about the roosts, and huddle inside the henhouse instead at night? Or are they going to just freeze their chicken-butts off on their roosts? Should I take down their roosts?

Need advice since this is my first year raising chickens.

Thanks!

Christian

 

[txnative]

When I moved mine from the brooder to the tractor I had to go out every evening for about a week and physically put them into their house. One day they figured it out and started going in on their own.

 

[ccabal]

That's funny... so I may have to do that soon to get them trained up.

Another question... my hens are still real friendly, and never peck at me aggressively. But I read often about other folks hens being grumpy and sometimes aggressive. Is that something that comes as they mature? At 5 months old, should I expect their personalities to change much as they become full adults?

 

[txnative]

I don't know - mine are about the same age as yours. I have heard that they become friendlier when they start laying, so that would be nice.

 

[chicketydooda]

I waited til dark when chickens are basically blind, I picked them up (they don't give much fight at night) and placed them in their coop. Soon enough they knew where to go at night.