Hen's not using the chicken coop - why?

[rosemarythyme]

Predator proof - whole "courtyard" (enclosed area down side of house between house, garage and shed) is closed off and sealed / covered over the top with chicken wire.

Manually putting them in - well, it's not really possible now as it's fairly open! I put one in - it'll just go straight out. There's no way to close it now I'd removed the door bar - even if I drop that door down, the way the coop is raised up they'd just squeeze out under the bottom.

Replace the wood you removed from the bottom of the walls and remove wood from the top of the coop and replace with hardware cloth for ventilation. I would still give thought to removing one bank of nests but leaving the lid to prop open to provide extra ventilation and light.

You need to be able to securely close the chickens in the coop if you intend for them to use it... OR... since they've been fine without going into the coop at all, do you really need a coop? Is your run secure enough for them to simply not have an enclosed coop? You said it's covered in chicken wire so that is NOT predator proof, but if you can predator proof the run that's an option. I don't recall if you mentioned your climate, but if it's moderate, the chickens would do just fine not being inside a coop at all.

 

[McChooky]

Rather than make a dozen changes its easier to make a bigger coop and use this one for nest boxes.

 

[McChooky]

I made the same mistake when I built my first coop to short and too small without enough ventilation. I wish I'd abandoned the idea of trying to 'fix' it because it was so much work.How I fixed my roosting bar and ventilation problems was I took the roof off and made the walls taller before adding ventilation at the top.Then I raised the roosting bars tall enough for my chickens to walk under. All but 3 of my chickens roost in my covered run.Only 3 still use this coop

 

[mrrossi]

Replace the wood you removed from the bottom of the walls and remove wood from the top of the coop and replace with hardware cloth for ventilation. I would still give thought to removing one bank of nests but leaving the lid to prop open to provide extra ventilation and light.

You need to be able to securely close the chickens in the coop if you intend for them to use it... OR... since they've been fine without going into the coop at all, do you really need a coop? Is your run secure enough for them to simply not have an enclosed coop? You said it's covered in chicken wire so that is NOT predator proof, but if you can predator proof the run that's an option. I don't recall if you mentioned your climate, but if it's moderate, the chickens would do just fine not being inside a coop at all.

The courtyard is protected by walls, gates etc and then there's additional chicken wire, so it should be well protected against predators.

UK midlands climate so it does go below 0C sometimes.

Don't the chickens (1) need somewhere to rest / roost? - they are still not using the beam inside, they sit on the nest roof or just walk about and (2) don't they need to be covered from rain (There's plastic sheeting over some parts of the enclosed area but not all and not where the wooden coop is) and (3) don't they need somewhere to lay their eggs?

I fear at the moment they will lay their eggs on the sloped roof and they'll just slide off and break!

Also, if I open the roof of the coop then rain will get in... but maybe I could open up a large ventilation "window" on the side of the roof.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Don't the chickens (1) need somewhere to rest / roost? - they are still not using the beam inside, they sit on the nest roof or just walk about and (2) don't they need to be covered from rain (There's plastic sheeting over some parts of the enclosed area but not all and not where the wooden coop is) and (3) don't they need somewhere to lay their eggs?

Yes they do, but in open air set ups the roost, nests, etc. are all inside the run in a climate protected spot. As I wasn't sure to your location at the time I did not know if that would work for you, and it probably wouldn't be ideal in your climate. It works in hotter climates.

Also, if I open the roof of the coop then rain will get in... but maybe I could open up a large ventilation "window" on the side of the roof.

You wouldn't put ventilation in the roof itself (if this was a shed then you could, but that's not happening here). You want to put it on the wall as high up as possible. So in this case, the triangles under the roof line. However you'd need to extend the covering on the run or the roof line itself, or add some sort of awning, to protect the vent from rain intrusion.

 

[Sefirothe]

I'm in the same boat as you with my current "temporary" set up.

Chickens want to roost as high as possible. The bars in your prefab coop are not as high as the nest box lid.

The bars in my prefab coop are not as high as the roof of the coop itself.

Thus our chickens dont roost in our coops.

I'm working on building a permanent walk in coop and run for these guys. Until then, they are as you see in the pic. The pen has a tarp for a roof and the two short sides. The back is sheltered by our back porch (that the camera is mounted on). And the front has a large pile of dirt that's acting as a bit of a wind break.

 

[McChooky]

Easy to raise the coop up off the ground with cinder blocks (or attach legs) You can also add ventilation simply by drilling holes in the side the triangle over the door(both sides)
Last but not least add a light bulb on a timer so the coop isn't dark inside then train your chickens to roost in there.Your coop can possibly be used with these changes but because they're used to sleeping outside you will have to put them inside and train them to sleep there. Chickens need a little light at night.

 

[rosemarythyme]

OP here's a previous post on a few ways to handle climate protecting open vents: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sufficient-ventilation.1475311/page-2#post-24583587

Easy to raise the coop up off the ground with cinder blocks (or attach legs) You can also add ventilation simply by drilling holes in the side the triangle over the door(both sides)
Last but not least add a light bulb on a timer so the coop isn't dark inside then train your chickens to roost in there.Your coop can possibly be used with these changes but because they're used to sleeping outside you will have to put them inside and train them to sleep there. Chickens need a little light at night.

That still won't provide enough ventilation unless the wall starts looking like swiss cheese, and climate protecting individual holes might prove harder than protecting an entire open triangle (as that can be covered by furnace filter material for example, or a hinged cover to ward off rain).

Chickens do NOT need light at night, light might help in drawing them into the coop but once they're settled for the night they don't need food or water so no need for lighting.

 

[whatthechickens]

The courtyard is protected by walls, gates etc and then there's additional chicken wire, so it should be well protected against predators.

UK midlands climate so it does go below 0C sometimes.

Don't the chickens (1) need somewhere to rest / roost? - they are still not using the beam inside, they sit on the nest roof or just walk about and (2) don't they need to be covered from rain (There's plastic sheeting over some parts of the enclosed area but not all and not where the wooden coop is) and (3) don't they need somewhere to lay their eggs?

I fear at the moment they will lay their eggs on the sloped roof and they'll just slide off and break!

Also, if I open the roof of the coop then rain will get in... but maybe I could open up a large ventilation "window" on the side of the roof.

Hang in there! My chickens are also scared of going into dark confined places except when laying eggs. They probably see the coop as one big nest box.

Adult chickens can handle zero celcius if they don't get wet.
1. Roost can just be a horizontal beam a metre or two high with a way to get up.
2. Yes, they should be protected from rain.
3. Yes, but they won't lay eggs on a sloped roof.

You already have the area protected which is a great start.
Once you have a simple solution you can always incrementally improve it. Maybe browse the forum and try to find the easiest basic coop.

eg. looking inside my shed what I could build in a pinch:
- I could setup the gazebo (roof).
- Place the 1.5m step ladder underneath (roost they can hop up to).
- Cut a hole in the side of a cardboard box with some straw in it (nest).
- use bowl for food and another for water.
This would work and take me 15 minutes to setup.

Best of luck!

 

[McChooky]

OP here's a previous post on a few ways to handle climate protecting open vents: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sufficient-ventilation.1475311/page-2#post-24583587


That still won't provide enough ventilation unless the wall starts looking like swiss cheese, and climate protecting individual holes might prove harder than protecting an entire open triangle (as that can be covered by furnace filter material for example, or a hinged cover to ward off rain).

Chickens do NOT need light at night, light might help in drawing them into the coop but once they're settled for the night they don't need food or water so no need for lighting.

I've seen plenty of people add tarps and awnings over small coops so rain doesn't get inside the vents. Chickens can't live in dark windowless boxes with heat lamps and poor ventilation. Yes they can live without lights but they might not like it or go in it willingly