Well, it's the first night for my 6 week old chicks in the new coop and they are NOT happy. Normally they would all be asleep at this time of night, but they are all standing by the door of the coop, peeping loudly, as if they want to go home to their brooder. Is this normal behavior for the first night in a new place? Will they give up and go to sleep?
It's normal. If I just got evicted and had to sleep in some strange place I wouldn't be happy either.
Is it really cold where you are? If not, and they should be happy by all other standards, leave them alone and they'll eventually drift off. Mine insisted on bedding down outside the coop for almost two weeks. I had to go out every night and put them in the coop. Then, one night I made a swampy mess when I was cleaning their waterers right in the location they liked to fall asleep in. That night they all bedded down on the floor of the coop and have gone there for the past three nights without my assistance. Yours will figure it out.
Yes by morning they will have settled in the coop. Do you have a light in it? I have found they calm down with a red light on so they can see everything and move around. for the first week right before dark I turn light on so they will go in tthe coop to roost. If I don't they are huddled outside and peeping away. after about a week they are moving around like they have always been there.Good luck to you.
It's in the mid 50s at night, but they've been without the heat lamp for a week in an unheated art studio. Their coop shouldn't be any cooler than they have been for the last week. Thanks for the eviction perspective, Paddock. I'm a bit over obsessed with chick behavior, this being my first chicken adventure.
I agree with the responses. I moved 17 chicks to their new coop about a week ago. The first night I think they were up all night. (I checked on them several times during the night.) The second night they were all asleep by the time it got dark outside. I am still using a heat lamp in the coop at night. My chicks are about 6 weeks old.
