how long should i "coop them up"?

[mom wewantchicks!]

we will be putting our 6 week old chicks into thier enclosure today!! we decided to put the roost into a build in cage and lock them up at night to keep away preditors. do i have to keep them in this cage for a week or so until they get the idea to go in there at night? of can i just let them out into the enclosure during the day and they will go get on the roost at night? here is a pic, i know it really fancy! but it was here already and we have just done a few inprovements! this is the entire enclosure

and these are the cages they will be shut in at night(we put in a solid floor)

 

[jessica117]

Personally, I'd let them run in the enclosure during the day from the start. Every night for about a week just after dark I'd go out with a flashlight and put them in their sleeping cage. With my experience it usually takes anywhere from 3 to 5 days for them to "get the idea" then they start doing it on their own. (My hubby just came in from doing the same thing with 3 of our babies.)

Hope this helps!

Jess

 

[ibpboo]

I think my chicks were around 4 or 5 weeks the first time I let them run around in the yard. They had been in their hutch a couple weeks. The first night at dark I went out and they were outside the hutch so I place them right at the doorway and they went in. The next night they went in by themselves. Now they are 9 weeks and they feel they are too big for their hutch so now they go into the tack room to sleep and I just close the door.