Chickens will not go into henhouse at night

[birds_and_bees]

Hello!

I have four Buff Orpingtons that are 15 weeks old. I brooded them in the henhouse and opened the run to them when they were seven or eight weeks (I think?) old. Since then, I have not been able to get them to return to the henhouse at night. Every time we have tried to see if they would enter the henhouse on their own they end up trying to bed down in a corner of the run and we have to go out well after dark to put them back in the house. We have tried setting them in the house every night, locking them in the henhouse for several days at a time to teach them that it was home, and carefully herding them up the ramp to the run to ensure that they know every step of the process. Two of them will now hop up on the ramp and go inside when they see us enter the run at dusk, but the other two still hide under the henouse, and the first two will come back out if the others do not join them. I've seen them go in and out normally during the day, but they just seem incapable of going into the run on their own. (They also aren't roosting on the roosting bars of the henhouse, but choose instead to sleep on the floor, though they are happy to hang out on on the roost bars in the mornings before we let them out of the henhouse. . .) In short, my chickens might be broken. Any suggestions from more experienced chicken keepers would be deeply appreciated. Thank you!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is there a light or window(s) in the henhouse? Chickens often won't go in to a completely dark room or coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of the coop inside and out would help immensely.

But for now a few things to assess: Do you have good ventilation? Is there enough natural light inside at dusk for them to see? Is there enough roost space and overall space in the coop for 4? Have you checked for mites?

 

[Debbie292d]

Sometimes, it's like clockwork for us. It usually takes four days to get them taught to go to the coop or pen at night, that we want them in.

Other times, it's more of a struggle. I do not understand why, so we have a rechargeable lantern that we sit inside the chicken door. That has always worked for us.

It does seem younger birds "go to bed" later than the older ones, so it's nearly dark when they're ready to move.