Do my chickens hate their coop THAT much?

[elmo]

Quote:
Yup. That could be it. During our first winter with chickens I used a dark colored plastic tarp on the run and our chickens were scared of it. Now I use the 6 mil clear plastic and they aren't bothered by that at all.

Is it dark inside your coop? That could be another issue.

 

[elmo]

By the way, I notice you have chicken wire over one vent and it looks like the other one is completely open. If a predator comes by at night, your chickens won't be there in the morning. Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but it won't keep a predator out.

Just wanted to be sure you realized this.

 

[wyoDreamer]

That is a cute little coop!

It looks like your roost is too short for 7 1/2 (hopefully, soon to be 8) birds. I think the recommendation is 1 foot per bird for roost space, but just about anybody on this forum has much more knowledge than I do. Maybe try to get two roosts that span the width of the coop? Remember, they need to have enough room for their head to stick out on one side and their tail on the other.

Could you wrap the outside of the coop in plastic to keep the drafts out? If you have a couple scraps of wood that you can screw down along the edges of the plastic, that will keep it from tearing loose and flapping. You can actually roll the plastic around the scrap of wood and that will help keep the plastic from tearing loose in the wind. If you pull the plastic tight, with the coop painted white it will hardly be noticable at all.