Chickie Babies Won't Put Themselves in at Night

[bcmama]

So it's after dusk and I just got back in from putting them away. They all congregated at the bottom of the ramp and were screaming. So I carried one up and put her in and the others followed except the first one kept fighting to get out and as we were waiting for the final two I had to close the door to keep them in. When I checked on them this afternoon when they wouldn't come out they would sit on their roost and really enjoyed being inside even though it was much hotter and they were panting. But tonight we had the same problem. I think I just have "special" chickens.

 

[NovaAman]

If there is one thing I noticed with my birds... All the hen raised chicks learned the ramp real quick. ALL the brooder raised chicks took anywhere from a week or two to learn to go in at night on their own. Just takes time and patience. They'll get it. One day you'll go out and think you'll have to put them away, and they'll surprise you.

 

[azygous]

At least you've achieved some progress. They now know the coop is home and represents safety.

You're the chickie mama. It's up to you to teach them how to go in at night. It just involves placing them on the ramp and encouraging them through the door into the coop.

I've had batches of chicks that have caught on in one or two nights. Other batches have taken two weeks to finally learn to go into the coop at dusk.

They ALL will learn to go in eventually. Just keep showing them what to do. Be patient. One day soon, they'll surprise you and put themselves to bed. Then you'll be ever so proud of your babies!

 

[Runawaylobster]

don't worry,

I did this too, for about 2 weeks, then I gave up as I was sick of individually
putting 25 of them inside. Then all by themselves a couple of weeks later
they just magically decided it was time to go inside every night. Now I
let them out after work and they go back into the run by themselves like
clockwork....

so don't worry it will happen...

L

 

[bcmama]

I have achieved some progress. I will keep them in the coop for most of the day again today and let them out later this afternoon and see what happens. Knowing that not all chickens grasp this concept fully from a human chickie momma right away makes me feel better. I didn't want to break them of some natural instinct. Hahaha Will let you know how it goes in the next couple of days. I might actually be sad when they no longer need me.

 

[azygous]

bcmama - how's it going with the chickies? I hope, by now, they're showing an interest in going in at night.

 

[bcmama]

Well I was still having problems with them still staying out and piling into a corner. I think the reason was because they spent the first 6 weeks with a light on and now the hen house is dark so they are looking for the lightest possible area. So, thinking that I now understand them better I have decided to train them with a light. I keep the light off all day and turn it on a little before dusk. They are now going into the coop and roosting. Once I see they are all on the roost I turn the light off.

I haven't had any problem getting them into the house at night and I am noticing they are spending more time during the day in there even with the light off. I plan on turning the light on later and later in the evening until they no longer need it. I think they just like their light.

As for the roost. I had read that you should have a foot of roost per bird. Why? They all pile on and squish each other into one foot of roost for 6 birds. Walking all over each other, under each other, but they just need to be touching each other. One of my little silkies that is a week younger than the others has adopted one of the barred rocks and will roost under her, crawling up under her wing or between her legs, but I guess that's another thread.

 

[mickey328]

We had some issues with their new coop...a couple were a bit leery of using the ramp, so we put a light in and turned it on just after dark. That did the trick...they "went into the light" and we closed the coop. We only had to use it for 2 nights and since then, they all go to bed just after dusk.

 

[NovaAman]

When I moved my chicks from the brooder to their coop, I had the heat lamp in there with them. I mean, this was February, and they were still littles... Anyway, when it got to be warmer, I took the light out, and the first few nights with out the light, they wouldn't go in. I was using a red lamp, so it really wasn't that bright... I had to encourage some of them to go in... Oh, and moving them to a new coop can be even more fun! They want to keep going back to the OLD coop. I took me almost 2 weeks just to get some birds that grew up in my garage to get it in their heads that they couldn't live in the garage anymore. That was fun.

 

[NovaAman]

Oh, and about 1 foot per bird with roost space. When they are adults, they will want more room on HOT days so they can still hold their wings out. If they do not have adequate roost space, tempers flair. Birds can over heat, etc...Its the same for people. If you are really hot, do you want someone up against you invading your space? Not really... More violence can occur when space is not considered in all aspects of keeping birds. I have over 50ft of roost space for 34 birds right now. In the winter, they will pile up together, and use half that space. It gets real fun trying to count fuzzy butts then when some of those fuzzy butts are so little, they disappear.