Chickens refusing to go itnto coop?

[leighb21]

Hi All
Im looking for some advice please! For the last 4 nights my chickens have refused to go into the coop.They have been sleeping in the run...
The coop is clean and I have looked for anything that should'nt be in there, mice etc....nothing!! They do go in during the day to lay??

Any thoughts.......as its only about 14c here, so not exactly warm!

 

[Fleabuskitty]

If they're cold, they'll go inside. As long as the run is secure/predator proof, I wouldn't worry.

 

[Den in Penn]

It's not in the -0c they aren't going to get frostbite at that temperature. Some times they just decide they would rather sleep outside. If they are secure it isn't life or death. One question is it getting darker in the coop much faster then outside lately?

 

[bburn]

I was recently given a flock of Dom's. First they did not know where they were supposed to sleep so we rodeoed them into the coop the first night. The second night some were in and some were out......so I carried a flashlight that night. The second I put the light in the coop the rest of the chickens RAN into the coop. The next night I got out the wind up flashlight, put it in before it was too dark and it ran out of juice on it's own. From then on they have found their way into the coop and up on their roosts.

I know it was a new place but they were used to light at night, unknown to me, and now they are getting used to not having light as I have stopped winding the flashlight.

Light sometimes makes the difference. And it may be that it is darker in the coop than outside.

 

[leighb21]

Thanks so much for your information.
Woohoo....Mission accomplished!!!! I gutted out the coop again!!, you could probably eat your dinner of the floor..ha ha, and popped in a light and stood back and gladly watched them walk in one by one!!!