Going in the coop!!!!

[Chop33]

Can't get my 12 week old chicks to go in coop at night. I take them in every night for the last three nights and put them on the roost. What is up with them?

 

[Dawn419]

Hi and Welcome to BYC!

Give them time and they'll figure it out, eventually.

When we first put ours outside in the coop, they's spend the day in there, use the roosts for preening and then sleep out in the run at night. After a week or so, they finally started using the ladder into the coop as a roost and then made their way to the indoor roost.

Chickens...ya gotta love 'em!

 

[carrlr]

They will get used to going in at dusk. One question, is it dark inside the coop at roost time or are there plenty of openings (doors/windows). Some chickens don't like to go into dark places that cannot be seen. Just a thought.

 

[wayneh]

Have you shut them in the coop for a couple days? If you have not locked them inside they don't know its home. It takes them a few days to attach to the coop. If you have not, leave them inside for a couple days and that should do the trick.

 

[ChickInDelight]

Mine were locked in their hutch a long time before free-ranging. Now, they put themselves to bed at late dusk / early dark. Recently, I left the door shut during the day. When I went out at dark, I found them cuddled up on the top of the hutch.

 

[poseygrace]

Try putting a light in the coop, and turning it on at dusk. Worked like a CHARM for mine! I have mine on a timer, and it comes on at dusk and stays on two hours. I just used my brooder lamp with a white bulb. Good luck!

 

[NewOldMotherHen]

I took the advice of posters here and kept my chicks inside their house for almost two weeks before letting them go into their yard. This gives them time to "home." They learn that their coop is their safe haven and now just like clockwork at dusk they return to roost with no problem.

 

[okiechick57]

I have had my miracle chickies inside run for weeks,still there are a few that are just simply confused ,airheads

that I still have to nudge into the coop !

 

[hcppam]

Took mine over a week and there was still one or two who had to be put in for a few days more.

 

[NanaLantana]

Yep, you gotta train them! Chickens are creatures of habit, they're probably wanting to back into your house! Mine did - cried for about 2 weeks when I first started to put them to bed on the roost. Then kept getting down - - - - So I waited until dark, then placed each one on the roost, and they stayed until morning. Took a while, but they're trained great now! Now they're laying - in the nest boxes that I showed them over and over!