Coop training

[Amyloumomof2]

I moved my girls out to their coop (small shed) with attached enclosed run about a week ago. They don't go back in the the coop at night and huddle in the corner on top of each other at night. These are my first birds. What has been successful for you to get your girls to come in at night and to use their roosts?

 

[hannahmcbain12]

When I have a new coop, I lock my chickens in the new coop. They will learn pretty quick after a day of being "cooped up." And let them out in the morning after. Try that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds pretty typical.

You don’t give the age, but the average age my brooder raised chicks start roosting is 10 to 12 weeks. I have had some start by 5 weeks and some take a lot longer. A broody will often take her chicks to the roost at a much earlier age, 2 to 4 weeks being my average, but when left on their own, it will probably be a lot later. Until they start to roost, they sleep in a group, usually in a corner where they feel somewhat protected.

If you lock them inside the coop only when you move them outside for about a week, they often accept that as home and will go in on their own when it starts getting dark. But that doesn’t always work. Sometimes they still try to sleep outside but usually right at the door. If you put them inside the coop after it gets dark and lock them in, they will eventually get the message and start going in in their own. Sometimes this only takes doing this once and they catch on, but some may keep doing it for a couple of weeks. Each group is different.

They do need enough light inside to see to go to bed. Often a coop will get dark inside before it gets dark enough outside for them to think about going to bed. A window can make a lot of difference. I think having an elevated coop makes it a little more likely that they will sleep outside to start with.

My last group was fairly typical. The first night all 13 were sleeping in the run under the door so I put them inside. The next night 6 were sleeping in the run. The next night 4, then 3. Then they all went inside on their own.

About the funniest thing I saw related to this, last year I had a group of 16 where all were sleeping outside the first night. It wasn’t quite dark but almost but I had to chase most of them down. The next night I went down there just a little before dark to work on something else. All 16 were outside, but when they saw me coming, they all went inside on their own. I never had any problems with them after that.