How to get chickens to roost in house and not in run?

[chickens really]

My friend uses his tree loppers and a hand held sander to trim his Roosters spurs. Then if bleeding he puts on quickstop for dogs toenails.

 

[Fishychick]

Tree loppers! I can barely get the loppers to work on the trees! I would be a bubbling idiot trying to wield those while trying to wrangle the roosters all by myself! I think I'll leave them be.

Ah, look at my babies in my profile photo. Back when they were no trouble at all, and I could pick them up, and they couldn't get away or hurt me. Is it any wonder that I let those four have babies this year. My late mother would never let our hens set an entire clutch, just a single egg (three hatches two years apart, same hen, one boy, two girls). So, I wanted to enjoy a group of babies. The problem is that they grew up too fast, and I got four boys. I'm doing the best I can and won't be enjoying babies again.

 

[HollyWoozle]

@Fishychick when we still had our rooster (a large Cuckoo Marans) I was able to handle him easily alone if it was fully dark. I think you’d be able to move your boys like that with use of a head torch as other posters suggested - if it’s properly dark then they shouldn’t try to fight you.

I lightly trimmed spurs using clippers and a file for dog claws and these worked perfectly, but I was very careful only to take the ends off without cutting down to the quick. I also did this in pitch black and had my partner hold the rooster whilst I used my head torch - I shone a torch against the spur to see as much as I could and just took it down little by little. It’s worth having some of that powder that stops bleeding on hand, just in case.

ETA: if you can get away with leaving the spurs be then that’s a good solution too of course!

 

[Fishychick]

Alas, I have no "partner" so I'd have to do whatever I do 100% alone.

 

[aart]

Alas, I have no "partner" so I'd have to do whatever I do 100% alone.

I do it all on my own, you can do it too.
Just gotta practice handling the birds until you are all comfortable with it.
I have a chair in my coop shed and wear a long apron which forms a sling between my knees when I sit down, put the bird there on it's back with it's butt toward my belly.
Sometimes I drape a small towel over it's head if it won't settle.
Have you handled your birds at all off the roost at night?
Is roost easy for you to reach them?

 

[Fishychick]

I've pulled hens off of roost many times using a towel over their wings. The high roosts are above my head though and not easy to reach, especially with the rooster trying to defend them. I haven't picked up an adult rooster in many years. Two of my five roosters will try to peck and hurt me. The other three are scared of me. They are four times heavier than the girls and much stronger to try to wrestle.

 

[aart]

I've pulled hens off of roost many times using a towel over their wings. The high roosts are above my head though and not easy to reach, especially with the rooster trying to defend them. I haven't picked up an adult rooster in many years. Two of my five roosters will try to peck and hurt me. The other three are scared of me. They are four times heavier than the girls and much stronger to try to wrestle.

I've found a towel startles them and kind of complicates things, so just use my hands.
I made my roosts waist height specifically to be able to access birds easily.
I can barely get my hands around my cockbird to hold wings down,
but got him used to handling when young so he doesn't fight it much.
I remember catching a stray cockerel in my yard at night, I was quick to get my hands around him and had to hold on tight, he was not happy.

 

[123RedBeard]

1. Remove the roosts in the run.

2. Lower the roosts in the coop to 3'-3.5' high. (Big heavy chickens jumping down too far can hurt themselves)

3. Throw a little scratch or "treat" in the coop when YOU want them to go in, then close the door for the night.

4. Go out after dark, and pick up each chicken, if it is already on a roost, check it over for mites, if not on a roost, after checking it over, put it on the roost.

 

[Fishychick]

The roosts are screwed in. They are 2x4's and can't really be removed without tearing things up.
Also, my chickens don't have mites. I hatched the first four from eggs, and they hatched the other six.

 

[123RedBeard]

Unscrew ... that's one of the nice things of using screws, easier to change, and reuse ...

Wild birds are generally the critters that carry, and introduce mites ...