Under normal circumstances, when do chickens usually head back into the coop? Is it just getting dark, fully dark, or a certain time of evening? I want to try to teach them to go back in, but I am not sure what is natural for them.
I have some that head to the roosts early and some that don't go in till it's getting dark. My "foragers" wait till the last minute to head into the coop and they are usually the first ones out of the coop in the morning.
Mine just moved into their new home yesterday so I was afraid it would be tough to teach them when to go inside to roost and stuff. When I was moving them from indoor/outdoor dog crates I did it when they started their nervous roost-time peeping when the sun was almost down and the solar lights started coming on. I kept a baby monitor plugged in near them so I would hear their peeping incase something was going on. When I went out to see what the peeping was all about I figured out it was just them wanting to roost because it was getting dark. So last night I went out about that time, they were peeping but staring thru the coop door into the coop and would not going inside. I think they were afraid to go inside (since it is new to them) but knowing how much mine love corn I just led them to the door while they pecked a corn cob and then set it far enough inside that they had to go in to eat it. They were nervous to follow the corn inside but after a few minutes they couldn't resist the corn any more and slowly headed in. They kept trying to come out (I left their coop door open to the covered run) but when it got really dark they hoped up onto the roost and went to sleep. I set a solar light to where it would shine into the coop so I think that when they realized there was light inside but not outside they decided to just stay inside. Leaving the door open worked out great for me because they let themselves out to forage this morning and I got to sleep in for the first time since we brought them home. I have been watching but we dont seem to have very many predators near by, we have dogs (3) and my neighbors all have dogs too so I think they keep any predators at bay for the most part. Im going to either put in a baby monitor or some sort of security monitor so I can scare off anything that tries to hurt them.
Ours go in by age... oldsters first sometimes surprisingly early( ring a bell, there?), younger layers next along with broodies and chicks by dusk, then those darn teenagers FINALLY get in before it gets pitch black.
