Hello from Wisconsin!

[Goose1026]

Hello everyone, We've had chickens for about two years now! We also have 49 chickens from ages 3yrs old to 4 weeks! The different breeds are; barred rock, ISA brown, white rock, speckled sussex, different varieties of Wyandottes, lavender, buckeye, golden polish, olive egger, easter egger, Americana, and black australorp! We love raising them and seeing how they change throughout different stages of their life, also for tick control living in rural Wisconsin, and can't forget the eggs!

The biggest challenge we face right now is one age group of 9 ISA browns, won't go into the coup at night. We've tried about everything you can to get them to go in from; putting peepers on the older hens, to putting them in the coup before the door closes at night. The coup is definitely big enough we don't believe overcrowding is an issue. As of now we just put them in the coup by hand at night. Any tips or advice to help would be great!

 

[Brooke_WI]

Hello from Wisconsin as well! Have you tried putting a small light in the coop to lure them in? This always worked for my chicks when trying to get them to go in for the night. It only took about a week of that and light is no longer needed. My younger pullets always seemed to linger out in the dark longer than the adult birds too.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Can you please post a picture of your setup?
You need 3.5-4 sq ft per bird and 1 linear ft of roost space per bird in the coop. This is especially important during integration.

 

[Goose1026]

Hello! We tried that for about a month with no success, might be something worth trying agian though. The group is about 8 months old now.

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. How long have the new birds been added to the coop? Chickens hate change and are slow to adapt to it.

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska!

 

[janiedoe]

Hello. Welcome to BYC. I hope things calm down in your flock soon.

 

[Goose1026]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. How long have the new birds been added to the coop? Chickens hate change and are slow to adapt to it.

They have been in the coop together for about 5 months!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

If birds feel bullied by the others, they will refuse to go into the coop. I think all you can do is what you are doing, getting them in by hand, until they don't feel as threatened.

Good luck with your flock!

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hello and welcome! Perhaps you can arrange a bit of temporary fence that kind of corals and funnels them in towards the coop door and then wave a couple pool noodles around like I do ..