- Apr 21, 2008
- 39
- 0
- 32
This is for reference. Take it with a grain of salt.
----------------------------------------------
We recently put our chicks into their Cozy Coop. It's a chicken condo with a run below. Here's what we did to train our chicks to use the facilities:
The first night they huddled in the run's corner. We put a light in the coop and lifted them through the door in the bottom and into the coop.
The first morning they wouldn't leave. I dropped them through the hole. They drank water for 5 minutes.
The second night, with the light on, they made their way up there alone. I turned off the light after a while. We put some food in there.
The second morning they wouldn't leave. I dropped 2 through the hole. The other followed. They again ran right to the water.
The third night everyone went up just fine. The light turns on at 8pm, off at 11pm on a timer. It's a tiny 15 watt bulb.
The third morning they again wouldn't leave. We dropped a different pair through the hole and the other followed. By lunch they were back in the coop and not going down. By dinner they were still in the coop. We dropped them through the hole, moved the food downstairs.
The forth night they went up just fine, still with the light on a timer.
- - - - -
I read a few posts about this problem, several mentioned solutions, and I thought I would post the actual process that is working for us. I still need them to go up without a light. I'd like them to go up when they're scared by the dog or when the storm-of-God comes through but that isn't happening yet.
Hope this helps someone, someday.
----------------------------------------------
We recently put our chicks into their Cozy Coop. It's a chicken condo with a run below. Here's what we did to train our chicks to use the facilities:
The first night they huddled in the run's corner. We put a light in the coop and lifted them through the door in the bottom and into the coop.
The first morning they wouldn't leave. I dropped them through the hole. They drank water for 5 minutes.
The second night, with the light on, they made their way up there alone. I turned off the light after a while. We put some food in there.
The second morning they wouldn't leave. I dropped 2 through the hole. The other followed. They again ran right to the water.
The third night everyone went up just fine. The light turns on at 8pm, off at 11pm on a timer. It's a tiny 15 watt bulb.
The third morning they again wouldn't leave. We dropped a different pair through the hole and the other followed. By lunch they were back in the coop and not going down. By dinner they were still in the coop. We dropped them through the hole, moved the food downstairs.
The forth night they went up just fine, still with the light on a timer.
- - - - -
I read a few posts about this problem, several mentioned solutions, and I thought I would post the actual process that is working for us. I still need them to go up without a light. I'd like them to go up when they're scared by the dog or when the storm-of-God comes through but that isn't happening yet.
Hope this helps someone, someday.
