Get chicks to go into coop at night?

[Bweis13]

8 of 9 of the chicks were at the top of the ramp tonight. We still had to shove them in! I'm sure they'll figure it out.

 

[JessicaThistle]

8 of 9 of the chicks were at the top of the ramp tonight. We still had to shove them in! I'm sure they'll figure it out.

Woohoo! That's a great start! One or two more nights of that and they will get it.

 

[Fancypants1]

Me and my 5 year old daughter are doing the same thing. I have her under the coop pushing them towards me to pick them up and put them back in the coop. Very funny sight to our neighbors.

 

[Coastal Chick]

I'm having the same problem. Glad to know that this is normal. I think I am not going out early enough to get them in the coop. Once they are snuggled up in the corner, they are all floppy and wont do anything. They wake up and fight to get back to the chick pile when I put them in the coop at night. I thought they would want to stay out as long as possible. But I realize I need to lure them in with something yummy before it gets dark.

They were sleeping on the low roost that I had in their brooder. Now they just sleep on the ground in a pile. I know that some can fly up to the roosts in the coop, because they did it when I put them in during the day. Do you think they will fly up on their own when they are ready? I have fencing on the bottom of the coop to let the poop fall through, but I was worried about them sleeping on it so I put a board in one corner with pine shavings because I dont think they will all fly up to the roosts. Any thoughts?

 

[JessicaThistle]

I'm having the same problem. Glad to know that this is normal. I think I am not going out early enough to get them in the coop. Once they are snuggled up in the corner, they are all floppy and wont do anything. They wake up and fight to get back to the chick pile when I put them in the coop at night. I thought they would want to stay out as long as possible. But I realize I need to lure them in with something yummy before it gets dark.

They were sleeping on the low roost that I had in their brooder. Now they just sleep on the ground in a pile. I know that some can fly up to the roosts in the coop, because they did it when I put them in during the day. Do you think they will fly up on their own when they are ready? I have fencing on the bottom of the coop to let the poop fall through, but I was worried about them sleeping on it so I put a board in one corner with pine shavings because I dont think they will all fly up to the roosts. Any thoughts?

Mine like to go in about 8 pm. I have noticed that on really bright sunny evenings, they may stay up until 8:30 but not any later than that. I'm not sure how old yours are, but I would round them up no later than 8.

They will figure out the roosts when they are ready. I think that they sleep in the chick pile to stay warm and when their bodies acclimate they will want to sleep on the roosts. Mine did the chick pile for awhile but all of a sudden, they were all on roosts.

 

[Coastal Chick]

That is helpful. I think I will do what you said and get them in by 8, before the sun goes down. They start crying pitifully like others have said about that time and it is a carnival here too when trying to get 7 into the coop. They are 7 wks old now. I will start a clear routine for bedtime and let them sort out the roost thing. Thanks for the advice.

 

[JessicaThistle]

That is helpful. I think I will do what you said and get them in by 8, before the sun goes down. They start crying pitifully like others have said about that time and it is a carnival here too when trying to get 7 into the coop. They are 7 wks old now. I will start a clear routine for bedtime and let them sort out the roost thing. Thanks for the advice.

You're welcome! I would recommend not picking them up and putting them in either. I explained the ritual that we did with our 5 week old chicks (at the time, they are almost 15 weeks old now) earlier in this thread. Putting them on the ramp and nudging them up until they are all in. 3 nights of that and they learned it. Night 4, they put themselves to bed. I think routine is important and they will get it quickly! Good luck!

 

[Peanutsmomma]

We put our babies in the coop/run full time at 6 weeks. At about 7:45pm on the first night, I walked into the run and found them huddled up together in a corner, so I picked each one up and put them in the coop. The next night, I didn't get home until almost 8:30 but the first thing I did was head to the coop with my fingers crossed that by some miracle they went in by themselves. Bless their little hearts, they were standing huddled together crying, it absolutely broke my heart so I picked them up and put them in the coop. The third night at 7:45 I got the idea to shake their meal worm treat bag and lead them up their ramp and into the coop. It worked like a charm! After they were all in the coop I gave them a few meal worms as a reward. I did this meal worm routine for about 5 days and then one evening when I was working late in the yard, I Iooked at my watch and realized it was 8:00pm so I headed to the coop to put up our girls and much to my delight they had put themselves to bed with no meal worms!! I was a very proud chicken momma!

 

[Coastal Chick]

Well, I introduced meal worms as a night time treat hoping to lure them in to the coop, but they were spastic, running all around and did not go up the ramp. I had to catch them one by one and put them in with some meal worms as a reward. But Rooster Cogburn, annoying little rooster, would not be caught. I ended up closing everyone else in. So I left him out there and went to have dinner. He kept running around hollering and going up and down the ramp to the closed door. He was kind of pitiful but when I went out to put him in, he still would not come to me like he usually does and would not go up the ramp. I finally caught him with a piece of cooked fish skin. He screamed like I was killing him. I put him in and then everything was all quiet. Not quite as planned. I think I need to practice luring them up the ramp with treats during the day.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Oh my goodness! It sounds like you had your hands full! I did forget to mention that our little roo, Leonidas, did the same thing the first night I lured them into the coop with the meal worm bag. I had forgotten that he showed his little rooster behind until I read your post. I handled it the same way you did and told him, "Alright Mr. Difficult Pants" let's see how you like being out here by yourself a while!" I left him in the run frantically pacing back and forth for about 30 min (that was sooooo hard to do) and then tried again with shaking the meal worm bag up the ramp and the second time he responded and went right in. Although, I think he just wanted to be with his ladies and was not really responding to the worms! He is almost 10 weeks old now and it seems like that night being alone for a little while was a turning point with him. I also read on this site somewhere that you need to give attention to your rooster first, give them treats first etc....so I started doing this and now he is very docile with me and can't wait to get in my lap when I go sit with them in their run. I am new to the wonderful world of chickens so maybe we just got lucky with ours being so easy to train? Hopefully, tonight your babies will head into the coop easy peasy.