First Night Out

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Nadya Russell

In the Brooder
Nov 6, 2020
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Hello everyone. I am a new chicken owner and have 4 almost 8 week pullets. I take them outside to their future run and hen house most every day. They love being there. However, when the sun sets here in El Paso, they start to cry out and want me to take them back into my bathtub at night. How can I just get them to go into the little hen hous and shut the door for the night? The house has no windows. It is a New Age Pet Fontana. They are 2 Barred Rocks and most likely 2 ISA Browns. Any suggestions?
 
Welcome to BYC and your first post. I have never had this issue. Personally I would leave them outside they will adjust. My chicken don't complain about hurricanes and as long as you know they are safe I wouldn't stress much about them. My roosters make noise all night long but that is more of an all is well call. Good looking coop but might need more ventilation in the future.

I still have a few silkies that need forced into the henhouse nightly.
 
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Hi and welcome to BYC. I would suggest confining your birds to their coop for 2-3 days (with food and water). They should then associate the coop as a source of refuge.

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Best wishes

Pork Pie
 
Since you are a Texan from El Paso I feel a bit remiss. We have a Texas thread and you are welcome to join. Your chicken will be safe there as we are all 6-10 hours drive away from you. I have too many extra chicken to even want more, just saying. Never get silkies unless you want loads of chicken they breed like silkies. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/texas.44/page-4705#post-23496338 is the current page.
 
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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
Sadly, those prefab coops are very poorly designed and never large enough for the number of birds they claim to hold.
In your climate, you should be looking at something more along the lines of an open air coop.
That coop has essentially no ventilation. Locking them in it in the summer could literally kill them.
Do you have any building skills? If you do, I would tear the roof off of your coop, reframe it with 2x3 and purlins to extend the roof over the front and sides at least 12" and the back about 6" and then inst
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined. all opaque polycarbonate roofing for a roof. Then cut the top of the two sides out (from the red line to the roofline) and cover the areas with 1/2" hardware cloth and secure it with wood slats.
This would allow better ventilation and some much needed light to enter the coop. Then the birds will be more willing to use it.
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