So my chickens have recently come to live with me rather than my parents because of the lovely crowing rooster. We built a run for them that is 9x12 and simply put the little coop they had at my parents house inside the run. Now they won't go into their coop at night. They instead roost on the top of they coop within the run. They haven't started laying but I am not sure how to get the silly things inside the coop to their nesting boxes. Help.... Secondly, any advice as to how to get the copious amounts of poo off their shingles, since now I can't tit either roof or all the poo falls into the coop? Thanks oh knowledgable BYC folks. Mary
I am not altogether certain, but it seems unnecessary and perhaps counter-productive to post the same content more than once. Chris
Have you tried waiting until they are asleep early in the evening, then picking them up and placing them in the coop? I find they are very quiet and docile at night and probably won't fight you at all. After doing that for a few nights, they may go in by themselves. One problem may be that as chickens like to roost (the higher the better), they would simply rather sit up high instead of in the coop that is very low to the ground. I'm not an expert by in my experience chickens do everything they can to sit up higher and are less comfortable on the ground. As far as the poop problem, if you gave them a nice high roost (cheaply made with old timber and some branches) they would probably prefer to sit on that than the house. I've heard of people adding pigeon spikes to stop chickens roosting places they don't want them too, but I don't know how that would work, you wouldn't want them to get hurt, but some kind of deterant would be good. Good luck!