Help my hens have me confused

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samanthacarey

samanthacarey

Hatching
Oct 31, 2015
4
0
7
Wisconsin
I was so excited to get my chicks we started out with 12 we ended up with 4 roosters...so i tried giving 3 roosters away. Then the 4 roosters killed one of my hens....then 3 of the 4 became aggressive and i had no choice but to butcher since they became aggressive and i couldnt seem to give them away for the life of me. Well the one rooster we ended up keeping was beautiful he wasnt "friendly" (he wouldnt come to close he kept his distance) he never attacked us so finally i gave him a name i named him Henry. Well of course....2 weeks after I named him Henry he tried to attack my husband.....:/ my husband just lifted his food and Henry ran into my husbands boot.....then he attacked my mother-in-law....well that was it Henry had to go i didnt have a choice. He cut my mother in laws leg bad and multiple places she is 73 years old she thought hed kill her. :'( now im without a rooster. Every since we butcher Henry ive been having issues with my hens....they will not go into their coop at night and we have to chace them all over our yard in the middle of the night and catch them one by one. We now put tarps all around a dog kennel we built our coop in the kennel. For winter as we live in Wisconsin it gets cold. And one of our hens hatched 8 chicks so we have a heating lap in their as well but they will NOT go in. So i told my husband to leave them locked up today to see if they can or will adjust but now they are sitting under their coop and wont go in. My husband is at the end of his rope....he didnt want the chickens to begin with i did happy wife happy life so i got my chickens....but he is sick of the chase and the do i let them out or dont i and the what if they stay out in winter they will freeze hes had enough.PLEASE help.....
 
just leave them to choose for themselves, they will go to where THEY feel most secure at night. if they get cold they'll look for some place warmer (might be the coop, might not), don't stress it, let them do their thing.
 
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great to have you joining the BYC flock
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Try locking your hens up in the coop for a week and then let them out and see if that helps them go in at night ...
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Thank you guys so much! I live in the middle if no where so im afraid of fox coons ect......but i guess ill have to just go with the flow
 
I'm no expert, but if your hen hatched the chicks wouldn't she be taking care of them and keeping them warm without needing a heat lamp? It might be the sudden addition of the lamp that's keeping them from wanting to go into the coop at night...too bright and too warm. If the broody hen is taking care of the chicks that should be all they need, no matter what the weather is like.
 
I agree with Blooie.

Do you have an enclosed run, for them to exercise in and be chickens? If you let them out to free range, you have to expect loses from predators. In colder months predators get a lot braver and desperate for a meal. Once they find one, they will keep coming back for the rest.
 
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Glad you joined us!

I'm sorry to hear you're having problems with your hens, and I agree with Blooie, they probably don't need the heat lamp. I'm guessing they just need some time to settle in after you removed the rooster. However, the fact that they are so hesitant to enter the coop makes me raise an eyebrow.
Is the coop too hot? Is there a strong ammonia smell? Do you have a mite infestation in the coop?
 

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