Chickens won't go in the coop

[jessyjo]

I will be here all day, so I will let them out. Again, thank you!

 

[pennyJo1960]

good luck

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi. welcome to BYC..

Might I suggest you leave a light on in the coop until well after dark.

Losing a rooster is traumatic to the girls.... At the risk of being jumped on as a chauvinistic pig...Girls are dumb..

They go about their day eating and not paying much attention to their surroundings.. The rooster is their master....(oh but if we were all chickens )...

He watches them eat, watches for predators, gives his life if he has to, to make his hens safe. He finds food for them...He is their brain..

When he is gone, and there has not been time for a hen to step up into the rooster role, they are lost..

A light in the coop will be comforting to them and it will not be as scary as entering a dark coop..

Good luck,,,,BTW I wish my birds went to bed like good little birds...I always have one or two groups that fight bedtime...

 

[jessyjo]

Again they have gone back to the trees for the night. I will try a light, any specific kind?

 

[pennyJo1960]

just plain white light is what he is suggesting sorry been out most the day
gathering birds bringing a few home

 

[duluthralphie]

YEP,,, A regular light just so you are not trying to move them into a darker area..

Chickens hate dark.

 

[pennyJo1960]

in the summer I use plain 25 watt red bulbs in my coops if winter gets to awful I do have 125 red heat lamps just keep those really high so they do not start a fire

 

[pennyJo1960]

@jessyjo have you been able to get them back in

 

[jessyjo]

@jessyjo have you been able to get them back in

All but 2, which if I shake the tree they go in they run right into the coop! Progress!

 

[pennyJo1960]

oh wonderful I am so happy it seems to have all worked out then