Chicks imprinting on their enclosure?

[yakitori]

I have a mix flock of chickens and guineas. A total of 8 birds.

From when they were 3 weeks old, I’ve had them in a large puppy pen during the day. They are now 6 weeks old. Over the past week I’ve allowed then to wander outside the pen for increasingly longer periods of time. At first I would sit outside and watch them, and then herd them back in. These past two days have been hot, so I had let them wander around longer in the shade. To my surprise, they returned to the pen by themselves when they were done. Is this imprinting? Will I have issues when I need them to imprint on their coop? (Coop is under construction and will be done in a few days). I wasn’t planning on keeping the puppy pen when their coop and run goes up... but maybe it will be easier if I connect the pen to the coop since they already recognize the pen...

Any suggestions on helping them make the transition would be much appreciated!

Right now, they still come back inside to sleep in the brooder...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

All chicks get used to whatever pen they are in after a time and they consider it home. Whenever to a new area it takes about a week or so before they become comfortable with the new area.

Chickens are territorial creatures, so it's normal and very helpful that they will home themselves to a place/territory.

 

[swamphiker]

I don't know that I would call it imprinting, but chickens definitely learn where "home" is pretty quickly. Once you switch them to the big coop, it will take them a bit of time to learn that the new coop is now home rather than the puppy pen. Many folks find that transitions can be eased by locking their chickens in the coop/run for a few days until they learn it. Once they have learned that the new coop is home, they should have no problems returning to it as long as it is suitable (good places to roost, not too hot/cold, has food/water, etc.

 

[eggsandhens]

Hello! Think about how you would herd them into the puppy pen. They started to get into a routine of going outside the pen, “exploring” outside, then going back in. Chicks learn routines very quickly! Once you start taking them outside of their coop (once it’s built) and herding them back in when they are done, they will quickly learn the routine again! That’s how my chicks were when I had to switch doors for them to come out of.

I agree with swamphiker, I wouldn’t necessarily call it imprinting, just learning their territories/homes and getting the hang of their routine!
Hope that helps!

 

[eggsandhens]

Also, here’s a tip for if your chicks don’t want to/go back inside their coop. Get some kale or squash (or any treat like that, but make sure to ask if you aren’t sure what treats are good for them) and set it inside their coop when they normally go back inside. They will usually go inside and start pecking at it. If that doesn’t work, then you could try standing inside the coop and calling them. Even rustling around a little bit, like refilling their food/water if needed, or moving around the bedding, you know something like that. If that doesn’t work, you could just herd them in again and get them into a new routine.

 

[yakitori]

you could try standing inside the coop and calling them.

Maybe I should just sleep with the chickens

I’m not a very talkative person, but I’ve been trying to say “cheep cheep cheep” when I feed them treats, haha. They do tend to come flying (The guineas fly, the chickens awkward flap jumps) from where ever they are if I haven’t shown up in a while to feed them, I can definitely use that to my advatange.

Thanks for all the tips! They all make sense in my head, but when in practice I minipanic because I have no experience to run on and it feels like I have no idea what Im doing.

 

[eggsandhens]

Maybe I should just sleep with the chickens

I’m not a very talkative person, but I’ve been trying to say “cheep cheep cheep” when I feed them treats, haha. They do tend to come flying (The guineas fly, the chickens awkward flap jumps) from where ever they are if I haven’t shown up in a while to feed them, I can definitely use that to my advatange.

Thanks for all the tips! They all make sense in my head, but when in practice I minipanic because I have no experience to run on and it feels like I have no idea what Im doing.

You’ll do great! I remember when I first got my chicks, I freaked out when one of them farted, so you can imagine how panckied I was when I found out I had to switch doors for them Also I was very confused why they weren’t coming to me when I was saying “come here... thing” hahaha

 

[middle TN Nancy]

I have a mix flock of chickens and guineas. A total of 8 birds.

From when they were 3 weeks old, I’ve had them in a large puppy pen during the day. They are now 6 weeks old. Over the past week I’ve allowed then to wander outside the pen for increasingly longer periods of time. At first I would sit outside and watch them, and then herd them back in. These past two days have been hot, so I had let them wander around longer in the shade. To my surprise, they returned to the pen by themselves when they were done. Is this imprinting? Will I have issues when I need them to imprint on their coop? (Coop is under construction and will be done in a few days). I wasn’t planning on keeping the puppy pen when their coop and run goes up... but maybe it will be easier if I connect the pen to the coop since they already recognize the pen...

Any suggestions on helping them make the transition would be much appreciated!

Right now, they still come back inside to sleep in the brooder...

I transitioned my chicks to the coop by putting the whole brooder in the coop with the brooder door fastened open. They were so young it was as if the brooder was a little coop and the coop was their run. I gradually moved food and water out from the brooder into the coop. Finally I took the brooder out completely. They never seemed to have any issues with any of the changes and were completely used to the coop as their home when I started letting them out into the actual run.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It's often referred to as "homing." As I brood out in the run, yes I need to home my chicks to the coop once they're ready to move in. It's as simple as 1) removing access to the previous home (I simply close up the brooder) and 2) forcing them to stay in their new home at night (I cage them inside the coop, cage is there for safety as I have hens). My current batch of chicks only took 2 days to home to the coop. Previous ones took about a week but I think I was being overly cautious with caging them.