Hi all, new here

[clairet]

Hello to all of you. I'm brand new here. I've been begging for chickens forever and my husband finally broke down a few weeks ago. I just picked up my girls on Sunday! I live in the city on a 40 foot lot so I kept it to 3 of them, about 4 weeks old when we got them, all welsummers. I'm really excited.
I already have a question though. They seem to be doing really well, growing really fast (and I have no idea how because they don't seem to be eating much of their feed) but for some reason they don't sleep in their coop. They all cuddle up together under it instead. It's pretty cute, but is it normal? Should I try to persuade them to sleep in the coop or is it not really an issue?
And now that I have the chickens, do I push my husband to let me get rabbits for meat or those miniature dairy goats next? We go through more dairy than meat at our house, but the goats would be a lot more work.

 

[easttxchick]

You probably need to actually carry them in the coop at night for a week or so so that they know that's where they are supposed to sleep.

from Texas!

 

[Doodle_Doo]

Hello and welcome

 

[MCCmomof3]

Just me, but for safety I would try to coax them into sleeping in the coop. They may not understand that it is there home. When I introduced my 5 BA's to their coop, I kept them in the coop for a couple of days (with food and water avail. in the coop) before letting them out into their run. That way they understood that it was their home and where they were safe. We have racoons and rats in our area and they can wreak havoc with a chicken (even through chicken wire) so we lock our girls up tight at night to make sure they don't get eaten by predators.

Now my girls run for their coop if something startles them.

Good luck and Welcome!

 

[b.hromada]

and

from S. Florida! Glad you joined us!