Getting the girls INSIDE the coop at night??

[camic]

I put all the food in the coop... and i noticed my little silkie getting all crazy at the "little" girls... (she is smaller then they are now, but they think she is mean) I really want to keep her. She is my first chicken and is still laying beautiful little white eggs (she is 5!) damn...

 

[aart]

no... just the chickens, some horse tack, feed, and misc. "stuff" lol

Hmmm...might be time to give a bit more room over to the chickens, eh?

 

[Criticalicious]

Second the night light. Mine were not wanting to go up in the coop at night until I installed a night light. It came on at dusk and turned off after an hour. Chickens have terrible night vision so they don't like climbing up into a dark place where they cannot see. By the third night they were putting themselves to bed and don't need the night light anymore.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I gave the older girls to my friend who wanted proven layers (I kept my 5 year old black silkie who still lays!) and I am down to 8 of the new flock...

Did you give them away for free or did she pay for them?

 

[camic]

Did you give them away for free or did she pay for them?

I gave them... In hindsight I did ALL the work of raising them and probably should have at least received a token payment... But my "ranch manager" aka husband was annoyed that I ordered so many

 

[camic]

This is the coops interior and partial exterior

 

[camic]

I have a light and I segregated even the naughty little banty... I had them in the bottom of the coop as babies and I might have to just bite the bullet and open it back up... But my ranch manager husband just wants to quit building and have them go into the nice coop he already built! Lol

 

[Susan Dye]

My problem is a bit different. My two new ones were sleeping in their hen house, on the roost, until night before last. They have their own coop, a smaller version of the main coop. I have used it for time outs, see but no touch intros, and broody breaking. They had been using it for their intro period, then I opened it up for them to mingle with the rest of the flock. They had been returning to it at night to roost with no problem. So, I had been cleaning it out every morning and noticed Friday that there was nothing to clean up except the poop on top of the coop. I had seen them hanging out up thereat times during the day. So, I thought, great! they are sleeping in the main coop with the other hens, though I prefer they remain with the smaller coop. Out of curiosity I watched for them to go to roost last night. Well, it turned out they did NOT go into the main coop. It turns out the poop on the coop was because they are roosting on top of their coop...all night! I went out and visited with them for a few minutes. I petted them and talked to them and they seemed perfectly happy to be cuddled up together on top of the coop. So. should I try to discourage this or just wait to see if they go inside the next time we get rain during the night? The weather has been wonderful for sleeping outdoors, low 60's and dry They are safe enough from predators, I suppose, since I'm in the city and have a privacy fence surrounding the yard. Any thoughts on trying to break this habit or letting nature take the lead.
Picture of their coop and picture of the two culprits cuddling in the corner.

 

[aart]

So. should I try to discourage this or just wait to see if they go inside the next time we get rain during the night? The weather has been wonderful for sleeping outdoors, low 60's and dry They are safe enough from predators, I suppose, since I'm in the city and have a privacy fence surrounding the yard.

Yes. There may not be enough ventilation in that small coop? Are there substantial roosts in there?

Don't kid yourself, there are plenty of predators in the city....
....raccoons probably being number one and they would have no problem scaling a privacy fence.

 

[Susan Dye]

Yes. There may not be enough ventilation in that small coop? Are there substantial roosts in there?

Don't kid yourself, there are plenty of predators in the city....
....raccoons probably being number one and they would have no problem scaling a privacy fence.

I had thought about ventilation, so I drilled a number of holes on each side. There is a small window on each end which I can expand if needed. The day time temps have been fairly mild, upper 70's to low 80's. Plus the coop is in the shade during the hottest part of the day. So I don't think heat is a problem so far. There are two roosting bars and two nests. It's really plenty of room for two full grown chickens, but no more than that. When they were using the roost at night, they both slept comfortably on one roosting bar. They like being close. Haven't seen chickens cuddle as much as these two do. They were cuddling on top of the coop, they cuddle in the yard, they cuddle when they roost on the assorted bars and branches. As for predators, I haven't seen signs of them in this area. There are tons of rabbits and squirrels, and the occasional skunk. Where I lived in Winchester, Va, also in the city within walking distance of downtown, there were lots of predators. Opossum, ground hogs, coons, foxes, even a bear wondering around downtown. But there you didn't see wild rabbits running around all over town. Lots of easy prey.
So, how would you suggest I break them from perching on the roof?