Chickens Sleeping Outside at Night

[Emma22]

I'm a new chicken mom. My chickens sleep outside of their coop, in the secure run, on a roost. They've never shown any interest in going inside at night...?

Hi is this still the case? Mine have started doing this and I've ruled out everything on this list and others. are yours okay?

 

[Emma22]

Did you figure this out?

In two of my plastic omlete brand coups my hens are perching outside their inside coup and not sleeping in the dark bit, but rather in the large run. They do not seem to have mites, the cages are sprayed and get washes and I use demite wash and powder regularly. I have also demited their perches. The foxes cannot climb on their cage. But it is weird they are choosing to sleep in their run perches rather than their dark coup perches. I dont think it's too hot in their inside coup. Do you know of any reasons this might be other than these which I have pretty much ruled out?
They are all laying one a day or every other day. The coups are the correct size, it's actually since there have been less hens (I separated them) that they sleep outside but they cannot see/hear each other.

I'm worried I am missing something.

 

[Lori S]

I agree that your roosts look too low. Chickens naturally go for the highest place in the coop to roost. I occasionally have hens go to the fir trees if the coop door is closed for so random reason. You could try a light bulb on a timer (LED so not to add any heat), and time it to be on during dusk and then turn off after you close the coop door. This could attract them to the light and then they would settle down in the coop, on the roosts, and then close the door. When the chickens go to the trees I say they are going back to the wild...but the wild will get them in the end. A sleeping chicken is a sitting duck. lol

My roosts are as high as they can be with a standing rooster not hitting his comb.

The light on a timer is an interesting idea. Earlier I l posted my girls had started roosting outside. Now three are still outside and two have moved in. I do have an LED on for 15 minutes just before dusk. But I confused the whole issue by building a new "Taj Mahen" coop. It has a higher roost (3 1/2'). Small chicken door left open 24-hrs, gable vents and roofline ventilation. No change in bedding nor feed. Moved them less than 10 feet from the old spot. No eggs for over 5 weeks. An earlier poster mentioned chickens don't like change, and BOY, is that true! Here's a pic of my coop interior.