Chicks not putting themselves up at night

[Maddmim]

I am new to chickens, I’ve had my kids about 8 weeks now and they’ve been out of the house and in their coop for about 10 days. I started them in the coop only, they were in there 3 days based on advice and things I’ve read and then I started letting them out into the attached run. They love it, have a great ol time and want to explore more of the yard.

The only real issue I have so far is these lovable nitwits do not put themselves to bed! It gets dark and they huddle together in the corner of the run to sleep. Each night I go out hoping there up there and nope, there they are in a cut pile of fluff.

I then put each one of them up, move their food and water into the coop and close them up for the night. Each morning I go, open the door to the coop and they’ll all be out within minutes to never step foot back in the coop until I put them away at night.

I’ve tried leaving their food and water in the coop but then I have dehydrated and hungry chickens. I don’t leave them out because I’m afraid I’ll come out to a massacre as we have some predators and although I think we’ve done a decent job at predator proofing, I don’t want to try my luck and lose.

What can I do to get these girls to put themselves up at night? What am I doing wrong?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of set up would help - if you have a ramp maybe its too steep, maybe it's too dark or stuffy inside the coop, etc.

 

[Maddmim]

I will get pictures in the morning but it’s a prefab coop, the ramp is a little steep in my opinion but I’m not even sure what to do about it to be honest.

Here is a picture of the same coop, not mine (google images) but exactly the same but without a frame we added around the bottom to make it more sturdy.

 

[danceswithronin]

When I had silkies it took literally like, five months for them to figure out how to go in the coop by themselves. I keep my chickens in a very secure area (yard surrounded by six foot privacy fence in a run surrounded by four foot wrought iron fence reinforced with netting) so I eventually got tired of "tucking them in" and let them sleep out in the run, especially since my Plymouth Rock cockerel was extremely protective of them anyway.

At some point when it got cooler outside (October) they started going into the coop all by themselves.

My new chicks have been out all week and are doing the same thing yours are - huddling in the run at dusk and making me tuck them in. Eventually once the run is more secure for smaller birds so that there are no weaknesses to slip through, I'll just start leaving them out too to figure things out on their own.

 

[starri33]

How many fuzzies do you have in that? I've got a tractor supply coop that as far as I am concerned the ramp is to steep.. I use it as only a hospital coop now, my girls will jump through the doggie door that I have in their new coop, the first 3 or 4 nights I had to go out, pick each one of them up and put them on their perches.. they've finally figured it out, my last patient to get at him and get him in the roost in the TSC coop, I had to get in, dig him out and put him in the side door on it. So he wasn't learning to use the ramp. That might be the issue with yours, are you able to get up far enough in there to put them in through the normal coop entrance for them?

 

[Maddmim]

I have 5,the coop says it’s rated for 8 but there is no way. They are 8 weeks old so they aren’t crowded... yet. I have to make this one work for now, my husband would lose his mind if I said we needed a new one already. I do have plans picked out for the next one though

I do put them up through the main coop entrance, I reach in and it’s mass flurry as I get each one and pop them in, while keeping my hand in the doorway to prevent them from exiting while I’m catching the others. It’s a sight to be seen haha.

 

[starri33]

I have 5,the coop says it’s rated for 8 but there is no way. They are 8 weeks old so they aren’t crowded... yet. I have to make this one work for now, my husband would lose his mind if I said we needed a new one already. I do have plans picked out for the next one though

I do put them up through the main coop entrance, I reach in and it’s mass flurry as I get each one and pop them in, while keeping my hand in the doorway to prevent them from exiting while I’m catching the others. It’s a sight to be seen haha.

going in through the main door ought to help.. but they are going to get big fast, when we bought our's from TSC and got it assembled, I told hubby there was no way I was putting more than 3 chickens in that coop.. they way over state what that one can hold.. my first girls never stepped foot in that, I had 9 weeks to get a coop built.. they went straight into it. I've kept the TSC coop to use as either a grow out, a introduction or a hospital coop. Hopefully your husband doesn't have to big of a heart attack..lol. Is there anyway you could add onto it with a larger run area? that way you might be able to put a ramp that isn't quite so steep.

 

[Maddmim]

going in through the main door ought to help.. but they are going to get big fast, when we bought our's from TSC and got it assembled, I told hubby there was no way I was putting more than 3 chickens in that coop.. they way over state what that one can hold.. my first girls never stepped foot in that, I had 9 weeks to get a coop built.. they went straight into it. I've kept the TSC coop to use as either a grow out, a introduction or a hospital coop. Hopefully your husband doesn't have to big of a heart attack..lol. Is there anyway you could add onto it with a larger run area? that way you might be able to put a ramp that isn't quite so steep.

That may be possible, I’m not sure? Something to definitely consider! It’s from TSC, I knew it wasn’t the forever coop but getting started I had to keep the investment low to prevent the heart attacks. We have put a decent amount of work into this one, reinforced it with hardware cloth, added a frame and hardware cloth on the bottom to prevent dig ins. I hope they figure it out, get a season out of it and then build a new one in the spring.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You can prop up the floor end of the ramp to lessen the slope, using a concrete block or some bricks maybe.

Are you leaving that little side window open all the time or did you add a light inside? These tiny coops can be awfully dark inside, which is a problem when chickens are trying to go in and it's dusk.

Absolutely no way you should be putting water inside (even to lure them in), that's just going to be a disaster if they start spilling it, plus space is already too tight.

 

[Maddmim]

You can prop up the floor end of the ramp to lessen the slope, using a concrete block or some bricks maybe.

Are you leaving that little side window open all the time or did you add a light inside? These tiny coops can be awfully dark inside, which is a problem when chickens are trying to go in and it's dusk.

Absolutely no way you should be putting water inside (even to lure them in), that's just going to be a disaster if they start spilling it, plus space is already too tight.

I do leave the windows open during the day, I don’t close them until night. I have not added a light inside, I’m willing to try it though as well as prop the ramp up.

At this time I keep food and water wherever they are while we get this figured out, they haven’t spilled anything but they’re hung and easily moved. Today there is plenty of room but they’re still little, I realize that’ll change quickly.