First night with my hens! a few concerns(hopefully only from paranoia)

[cristina]

Any of you out there sympathetic to the spazzy-ness of a new chicken owner like myself, please chime in!
Well, it is my first night with my three hens and i couldn't be happier. I'm concerned about a couple things and not sure if they are worthy of concern and I'mjust being paranoid, or they are valid concerns to ensure my hens' happiness. Here they are:

1) I have a small coop (run with house combined) for them, with a ramp leading up to the enclosed house, roost, nest boxes, etc. The opening to the enclosed house is a bit small, though I know they can fit through because one of my hens was sitting inside the house with her head peeping out. It was late already and the other two didnt' seem to know what to do with themselves. Don't they always go inside to roost at night? I am not sure if the opening to their house is too small. Is it totally abnormal to for them NOT to go inside at night? hopefully its because they're in a new environment.

2) The run space for them is small, compared to the home flock they came from. I plan on building a fence tomorrow to give them a large open space to roam in during the day. Will they be stressed out if they are confined to their coop for an extended period of time?

3) I have 2 nesting boxes for 3 hens. Should they each have their own?

Thanks for reading and hopefully a kind, veteran chicken-raiser will respond! (or even a rookie like me)

 

[Theapplechicks]

maybe try placing them on the roost? To show them where to go??? I would think they should be fine in the smaller run for a couple days. They might not like it right at first if they are used to a lot bigger one but they should be fine, I would imagine.

I have 3 nesting boxes and had 9 hens.... they only use one of the boxes!!! So you are fine there.

 

[poultrycrazy]

2 nesting boxes are fine, and just relax they will be fine!

I was the same way when i had chickens for the first time and i had three with one nesting box. The rule is 1 box for 4 hens i think. They should be fine confined but you never know each hen is different.

 

[patman75]

First

I would but them on the roosts for their first night if they dont go inside by themselves. It will take a day or two for them to get comfortable with their new home.

How big is your coop and run?

2 nest boxes if more than enough for 3 birds. You only need 1 nest box for every 3-4 birds.

 

[ralleia]

If they're new to the location, then you may need to "herd" or put them into the coop at night until they figure out where "home" is. Confining them to the coop might actually help in the process of them learning "home." Once they have that figured out, they should put themselves away before dark.

No, confining three hens in a coop shouldn't overstress them at all. When I have severe weather I confine 40 birds in a small coop, and they do fine.

Two nests boxes between three hens is more than adequate.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I acquired extra hens without expanding my number of nest boxes--I now have 6 nest boxes for 40 hens. Still, they lay 98% of their eggs in those boxes, and they STILL don't use all six! Quite often when I go into the coop two hens will have muscled into one box and they do just fine.

As long as you get them all snug and locked up at night, then DON'T WORRY. Take a shot of good whiskey or a nice glass of wine, and go to sleep.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Quote:
x2

If they don't want to go in at night, herd them in & lock them in until morning. If they still don't get it, leave them in for a day. They'll get it.
If they don't use the nest boxes, (you have more than plenty) put a golf ball in each of them.
The opening is most likely just fine. They are just trying to adjust to the new environment. They will be fine.
Just remember, this is all new to them also. It will take them a little while to relax & get used to their new environment. But rest assured that they will. They might be a little stressed from the changes, but no more so than you are. So relax, take a deep breath, alcohol helps at night too. But not for the chickens!

 

[elmo]

Is your coop large enough for 3 chickens? It's good to allow a minimum of 4 square feet per chicken indoors, and a minimum of 10 square feet per chicken outdoors. The other thing to consider is roosting space. Try to give at least 12 inches of roost width per bird.

Depending on where these birds were in the pecking order of their previous flock, you might have one bird bullying the others and preventing them from going inside the coop, or if you put the others inside, they could fight if there isn't enough room. You'll just need to watch and see how it goes.

 

[cristina]

Thank you so much everyone for your responses! I am so grateful for all of them and am LOVING BYC! I am in the process of expanding the run for my hens so I'll sleep better once I get that finished (this week), but beginning to think that their roost/indoor space is too small. Although I did get three beautiful perfect eggs this morning (my first eggs!) which was an unbelievable treat. Of course that's why i have them and was not surprised, but still it was special.
Thanks for all your input and I'll surely be posting more in the future. I already got 2 more newbie questions of mine answered just from looking at others' posts.