Help with getting our chickens into the coop at night and keeping them there.

[Jbluvsbri]

Our 5 girls are about 11 weeks old and have been in their outside coop for about 2 1/2 weeks now. We kept them in the coop for about a week before we let into the run. We have been waiting for them to go into the coop by themselves but every night we go out to the run and find them huddled together in the run. We have tried putting a light on in the coop, luring them in with food, I watched at a couple of them walk up the ladder during the day so I know they can get up the ladder. Up until last night once we placed them all in the coop they stayed there until morning but last night when we checked on them hours later we found them all back outside again. Should we try putting them back inside again for a few days or putting some food in there at night? Any suggestions would be so great.

Thanks Jamie

 

[scratch'n'peck]

You are not alone in this experience. our silly chickens took a couple of weeks to go in on their own. We would be out there on our hands and knees in near darkness scooping them up from their pile to put them in the coop. They never came back out again, but it was often pretty dark once we placed them inside. You could try putting some food in their with them and closing the door so they wont come back out into the run

 

[HiddenHens987]

When my chickens were first put in the coop, it took them about a week. Now if I'm not out there until after its dark, I'll peek in the hen house and see them roosting and nestled down for the night.

Sometimes though, if I am out there on the colder days and trying to put them to bed before the sun has totally gone down, (Say around 4:30pm est) They might put up a little bit of a battle, but then they give in and go inside.