Coaxing down the ramp

[LilMissChick]

hey all! How do you teach your chickens to come down the ramp?

My chickens are... shall we sat timid lol.

I have one chicken who likes me enough to coax her down but the rest just call to me and lay or look out the front door!

How long does it take to get them used to it. I’ve been sitting every day in the pen with treats trying to get them to come out!

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Haha - so cute waiting for you to come save them!

A few questions come to mind:
- what is the angle of the ramp? Can you put a cinder block or something under the end to make it less steep?
- what is the space between the cleats?
- how long have the chickens had that ramp?
- will they try the ramp if you put their favorite treat on the ramp?

My husband put a flat "landing pad" outside our pop door, and our chickens like to come out and look around a bit before going down the ramp. As they've always had this set up, I'm not sure how that factors into things

 

[LilMissChick]

This is only the second day with the ramp and their first week in the coop. The ramp isn’t too steep and there’s about 7 inches between the cleats. It’s already on a cinder block but only about 3 inches off the ground at the low end.

The ramp is at about 40 degrees.

 

[so lucky]

I agree with Thyme4Chickens. You maybe could hot glue some more cleats in between the ones that are on there. I have a concrete block sitting beside my ramp, and the girls have used that as a boost going up, and a landing when going down. Now my girls hit the door and fly out of the coop. Who needs a ramp?

 

[so lucky]

It won't take them long to get the hang of it.

 

[LilMissChick]

I keep telling them they have wings and it would be okay if they jump out, but it’s like we aren’t speaking the same language

 

[Thyme4Chickens]

Chickens are suspicious of change!!!!! Do yours like scrambled eggs? I think mine would do anything in the world for scrambled eggs!

 

[BorregoMike]

Your chickens are just chicken! Chickens are so afraid of doing new things that they are the perfect example of being chicken!

All it takes is for one brave chicken to take the plunge and when the others see that she didn’t die in the process they will consider doing whatever it is themselves.