chickens wont return to coop at night

[3chimama]

I turn a light on as well and always have a snack ready for them. They always come in before dark now.

 

[team_realtree]

Are you sure they are familiar with how they are supposed to get back in the coop? The first couple days I had mine they would turn the corner outside of the coop and forget how to get back.

 

[gogoalie]

IT WORKED!

:yiipchickWOOHOO!! & yes Aquinas...I was just tellin' a boy they're SMART, as they go in when it's bed time! LOL!!!

 

[my3jsons]

We had this same issue. We would wear ourselves (& the chickens) out before bedtime chasing them around and putting them in the coop. Then one night, we forgot. It was dark already! We ran to the coop and guess what? They were all in. How did they do that? We had only seen one use the ramp at all. I think it was us that needed to be trained on putting them up at night. They were probable saying to us, "It's not dark yet, we don't want to go in there." Now we sit back and watch. Sometimes the head rooster comes back out and checks to see if all are in or to tell one of the straggler hens to get her butt in there. Too funny. They will figure it out. You will too.
Have fun with your chicks!

 

[LittleFeat]

My girls had always headed back to the coop at night. When they were little, I kept them locked in for about a week. Once they would go into the coop from the pen, I started letting them free range a little in our fenced backyard. I'd let them out for about 30 minutes before the time they'd been going to roost. After several months with no problems, one night when I got home, my DH told me Wynnie (my most skiddish, unfriendly bird) was out in the yard and wouldn't go in the coop. It was already dark by then and I tried to catch her. She was all hunkered down in the grass for the night and when we tried to catch her, instantly awake and running! While trying to figure out why she wouldn't return to the coop, I noticed a small rake that I leave propped against the side of the coop, had fallen down with the handle laying across the entrance to the pen. Well you would have thought it was the end of the world!!! "I'm not crossing that big scarey thing!" I could just imagine Wynnie's little brain saying. Since it had already gotten dark by that time, I still had to corner her to get her in, but I've definitely learned they are creatures of habit, and moving one thing they are used to can cause them all kinds of distress! Now I rearrange things in the pen from time to time so they maybe won't be sooooo rigid about things scaring them. But I did notice just last night Wynnie was hesitant to get a drink of water as I had moved the waterer about 2 feet over to the side. Ohhhhh scarey!!!

 

[egzactly]

Our 6 chicks are only 7 weeks old. We use a long bamboo pole to herd them back to the coop. I remembered seeing a picture once of a child herding geese with a long pole. I didn't know if it would work with chickens, but it does. For some strange reason they will not go past the bamboo pole, so we just have to switch it from side to side to steer them in the direction we want them to go. It helps to do it slowly. If you get moving too quickly it spooks them and they try to make a break for it. A couple of times they have gone back to the coop on their own, so maybe eventually, they will do that all the time.

 

[Quigley]

Is it possible a trap door could be too steep?

My 11 girls are about 10 weeks and I've not yet seen one go in the trapdoor. I chase them around like a lunatic and try to teach them to walk up it but not one goes in willingly. They fly out just fine, not in. I think I provide good entertainment and a growing vocabulary for my kids who ought to be sleeping but are really watching/listening out the windows!

 

[Crack N' Egg]

My girls and boy free range during the day. Everyday around 5-5:30ish I go into the garage, get a couple of handfuls of scratch in a bucket and as soon as I walk out from the garage, they all come running. If not, I shake the bucket with the scratch so it makes noise and then they come running. I bring them back to their run, spread the scratch and lock them in. Then when it gets dark they all go into the coop and I go out and lock the coop up. Try getting them into a habit of coming in a little early. It will become a routine eventually.

Good Luck!!!

 

[knotmyline]

Thanks for all the good advice. I am finally trained and so are the chickens. lol A light in the coop as well as treats in the coop helped a lot.

 

[Chicken Geandma]

My free range city chickens are about 2 years old and have recently stopped returning to the coop. We had a cat teasing them, and I think they decided it wasn't safe. They now roost by our back door and I carry them back every night and have for about a week. Any suggestions to retrain these older girls?