Coop Help

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tiffani74

tiffani74

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My kids and I are new to raising chickens. So far they have been so much fun! I do have a question about the coop. We had the chickens in our basement until they were big enough to go out to the hen house. We were told to leave them in the hen house for about four days before letting them roam the coop. We did that, but I have noticed that at night they do not go in the coop. They huddle together and sleep under it! I don't want them to think that is where they are going to lay their eggs. What should I do to get them to use the hen house?
 
I am new to chickens too, 16 weeks new :) My chickens are 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks. When mine were old enough to go out of the house they did the same thing. I just made them all go inside the house every night and after doing that for a week they figured out where they should go at night. They are all in the house and accounted for now every night. I also put a roost in just a few inches off the ground to encourage them to sleep in the house.

I think they just have to figure out where they are supposed to be sleeping after that they will always go in the house.

Hope that helps! Good luck.
 
I am a newbie also ......... I have four 8 week old chickens. I just got them last week and kept them in the coop for two days. When I let them roam they stay very close to the coop as long as I am outside with them........ otherwise they don't come out at all even if their door is open. ( I have a half acre fenced area for them). The last two days I had to coax them into the coop because I wanted to go inside ... I was getting eaten alive from mosquitoes! LOL. I bribed them with freeze dried mealworms. I am assuming its because they need to get use to their new surroundings.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC, both of you!
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As they said, put them in manually. Or put a light in the coop as they should go toward the light. My problem is the bloody chickens consistenly roosting on the fence and not their roosts. Nice wood roost < chicken wire fence.
 
Thank you all for the ideas. I will just keep putting them in at night until they figure it out!
 
The first couple nights after I transferred my eight week old chicks into their coop, I had to catch them and put them up top to sleep. They were doing the exact same thing that yours are... I don't know what kind of coop you have (Here a picture of mine...) but I had to put food on the ramp to start teaching them to go up and down it. Once they got the hang of it, instict took over and they would go up into the enclosed roosting area to sleep. I don't think you mentioned how old yours are but I think mine were still a little young and their legs could have been just a bit longer.... Haha! They figured it out though... Good luck!



 
You've already gotten some great advice so
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