Getting my chickens to use my coop.

[ltaylor53]

It's starting to get cold outside and I can't get my chickens to use my coop. I literally moving them from the roost outside to the inside coop each night and locking them in. Help? Do I need to take away their roost, that is there where they are hanging out, it starting to get near freezing. This is my first winter with chickens, so I'm getting a little anxious about this, I'm stressing my husband out.

any help.

 

[CluckerFamily]

When I moved my first batch of pullets from the brooder to the coop, I locked them in the coop for 2 weeks to make sure they knew where home was before letting them out.
Maybe leaving them in the coop for a week or two would help.

 

[RobertaD1]

I still think your coop is too small, I would still pull the nest boxes and make the whole thing roost space.

 

[DobieLover]

It's starting to get cold outside and I can't get my chickens to use my coop. I literally moving them from the roost outside to the inside coop each night and locking them in. Help? Do I need to take away their roost, that is there where they are hanging out, it starting to get near freezing. This is my first winter with chickens, so I'm getting a little anxious about this, I'm stressing my husband out.

any help.

Can you please post pictures of your coop and run and provide the square footage of each?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Have you tried sprinkling some treats in the coop about a half hour before bedtime? Then they go in so you can shut the door.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Is the roost in the run higher than the roost in the coop? They will always chooses the highest place to roost.

 

[DobieLover]

View attachment 2385984

What is the size of the coop?

 

[DobieLover]

It has a roost and 3 nesting boxes. There is a window on the would considered the south side above the nesting boxes.

It does not look like 45"x45". It looks smaller. And if the nest boxes take up the majority of the south wall, that's about all they can use the coop for, laying eggs. It's just too small and lacks ventilation.

 

[RobertaD1]

I would pull the nesting boxes out and make them separate. Turn the whole coop into just roost space

 

[CluckerFamily]

With only 4, you only need one or 2 nest boxes. Add a small area in the run in which to lay, take the nest boxes out of the coop

That is a good point! I use to have 6 nesting boxes for my 16 hens but they only used 3 of them so I took out the ones they didn't use.