Getting my chickens to use my coop.

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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.
Make sure you provide your chickens with a roost inside their coop. Close them in for a couple of days and get rid of the roost outside. If you can use their outside roost and modify it to fit inside your coop that might be best. Also chickens are great at adjusting to cold weather as long as they can stay dry inside the coop.
 
I'm thinking your coop needs more ventilation. My coldest winter temps are -5 F and the entire top 6 inches of my main coop under the roof is open and covered with hardware cloth. The area right beside where the chickens are on the roost is solid siding, but areas above and below that have openings covered by flaps. In the summer time all the flaps are open about 3 inches which lets a lot of air in the coop without making drafts. The flaps are hinged at the top so rain runs off. In the winter some flaps get closed, depending on the temps. If we get down into minus temps then all the flaps get closed but the open area at the top stays open. The chickens are all quite comfortable and we've never had any problems with frostbite. I also have a couple of smaller kit coops that have a lot less ventilation and often the chickens there would rather sleep on the outside roost that is under a roof and inside hardware cloth. They only sleep inside the coop itself if it is very cold. They also have never had a problem with frostbite or anything.
 
I put mine to bed for three weeks straight and was beginning to give up hope when Lo and Behold When I went to put them up they had all ready gone to bed. I just go out to shut the door and open it at daylight.
 
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.
Hi there I would definitely take away the outside roost. I got my new hens to use their coop
After keeping them locked in it for almost a week. Now they put themselves to bed every night. I also feed them in there which helped because they became used to being in there. My chickens are pets and totally free range. My coop is actually a storeroom under a very high patio. Still my process worked and thank goodness because we have Genet serval and civet here. Good luck.
 
I had this issue for awhile and got really tired of putting them all to bed every night! I took down all of the roosts in the run for a few weeks and then added the lower ones back in, making sure the ones in the coop were the highest of anything. Once in awhile one will get stubborn, but generally I haven't had an issue since.
 

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