Chickens suddenly won’t go in coop at night?

[zimberq]

We have this exact same coop. We built an addition on the back for nesting boxes so they could use all of the original inside for roosting. We have 8.

We also built higher roosting bars.

Course my girls are all doing the same thing as of late - roosting on the exterior roost. I’ve been letting them because we close the wooden doors and have a run around the coop as well so they are double doored at night.

 

[Cjacks1]

Hello! So I’m wondering if anyone has ideas on this.

Tonight I went out to close the coop up and three of my four laying hens (7mon) were roosting on my deck. The fourth was in the coop as usual but by itself. They all have consistently always put themselves to sleep at night. Only one time two weeks ago I accidentally shut the door and they couldn’t get in so they roosted on my deck until I went to close them up and realized. But every single night since they were babies they have put themselves to sleep in the coop.
So what could be the cause of this? Three of the chickens just suddenly not going into the coop at night. It’s only been one night but it was just odd to me. I checked inside the coop and saw nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary and no mites on the roosting bars. Pictured is my coop setup (it’s a few months old when the chickens were babies). They seem to be laying as normal this morning in their nesting boxes. Any help or thoughts would be great!

Thanks!

I’m having the same problem just in the last 3 nights. My husband built them a really nice outdoor roost and now they all 6 of them want to roost on it at night. I have forced them inside the coop and they are not happy about it. They are 11 weeks old, not laying yet of corse but I am concerned that if this continues they will not lay eggs in the proper nests in the coop. It is a brand new, totally predator proof run and coop so they are very safe if they roost in the run and not the coop but i really want them in the coop again. Help us please!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’m having the same problem just in the last 3 nights. My husband built them a really nice outdoor roost and now they all 6 of them want to roost on it at night. I have forced them inside the coop and they are not happy about it. They are 11 weeks old, not laying yet of corse but I am concerned that if this continues they will not lay eggs in the proper nests in the coop. It is a brand new, totally predator proof run and coop so they are very safe if they roost in the run and not the coop but i really want them in the coop again. Help us please!!

Likely cooler outside and more space.
They may go inside to lay eggs, time will tell.

 

[Mrs. K]

I am glad you don’t have more than 4!

People tend to line up the roost parallel to a wall. Which generally keeps them too close to a wall. Where as a diagonal roost, will give you more space

 

[Mrs. K]

It looks like the coop is 3x4, so the hypotenuse would be 5 feet. Which would really be best. And raising it up at least 12-18 inches would improve the air circulation around them, important for moisture control.

I think that it might be very hot in there. If you increased the ventilation as in removing most of the front wall, and just have an open air coop might be best. Then just lock them in the “run part” and they will roost where you want them too.

Those prefab coops are cute, but really don’t work well. By winter, depending where you are, and if they start fighting you might need to reduce the flock by one or two head.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Where as a diagonal roost, will give you more space

Kinda,...except the ends of a diagonal roost are often not usable.

 

[Mrs. K]

Some reason, I can’t edit on my phone. So I keep posting.

An easy fix, is take off that people door. Cover that opening with screen. If you made a screen door and put it on hinges, in hot weather you could use that and replace it with the wood in winter if needed.

 

[Mrs. K]

Kinda,...except the ends of a diagonal roost are often not usable.

Yes, if it is not a perfect hypotenuse it would be better, maybe 6 away from the corner, that would still give her more space and if she ran two roosts in an x pattern that would also help. It is a hop up, no flying room needed.

 

[Champers11]

I had that one time when I changed the pine shavings, they never had that done before and caused them to be chicken.

That’s just happened to me tonight! I changed the pine shavings in two coops and none of the chickens will go in Did yours adjust to the new shavings?

 

[LaFleche]

Check the coop for poultry mites and proper ventilation as chickens often will prefer to spend the night outside when one or both of the above will impair their wellbeing.