How to get new Chicks/Chickens to use Hen house?

[harvey]

Hello Everyone,

Any ideas on how to get my 4 new chicks (5 weeks old RIR's) to use their hen house? They sleep outside in their run. I tried locking them into the coop/hen house portion for a couple days but, after I let them out they continued to sleep in the grass of the run. My coop looks similar to this one;

http://www.woodenart.org.uk/product...id=38&osCsid=bfe085bec90a4c23dbe23645b9e6ccb5

I basically copied the same look but, I doubled the run space. Thank you for your ideas.

 

[claud]

Do they go in the coop during the day? If not, put their feed in there and show them where it is so they are used to going in and out in the daytime. Then you have to train them to go in the coop at night. Just after dark you need to go in the run and pick up each one and put them in the coop(setting them on the roost will teach them that is where they are to sleep). You will need to do this every night until one day you'll go out there and Ta-daaa! - they're in the coop. This can take 2 days to 2 weeks. Mine average about 3 or 4 nights(except for the occassional stubborn one).

 

[J&KV]

When we got our chicks in the coop, we went out every night to put them in the coop from the run, it took about one week and we went out there and they were in there by themselves. So just go out there and put them in the coop one by one at dark and close the door. We are new at this, but it did work, it like training them. Good luck.

 

[crooked stripe]

My coop was used as a brooder for 2 weeks till I opened the chicken door one day. It took them all day to leave the coop and explore. I also keep the feed in the coop at all times. They go in and out to eat many times during the day. Just before dark they all return on their own. I just go out and lock the door at night. I think they felt safe in the coop and run. When the neighbors dog barks they scurry for the coop. So far I find they figure things out rather quickly. John

 

[harvey]

Thanks for your help. I tried putting them into the coop after dark last night. It seems to have worked as they were in the coop tonight when i checked them. Silly birds but, at least they can learn. Thanks again for your helpful advice.

 

[claud]

Glad it worked. I'd check the next night or 2 just to make sure they got the hang of it but sounds like they got the picture.

 

[MissPrissy]

You have to remember the chicks had no chicken mother to teach them what to do. As their human chicken momma you have to teach them everything - even how to roost.

 

[sesquius]

I wish I had read this thread when my husband and I were trying to get our 12 chickens into their tractor coop. The first mistake was trying to "chase" them around the coop. While my husband was away one week, I discovered if I left them alone, they'd roost on top of their coop, and then I'd grab each one and "stuff" them into the coop.

Since then, it's getting a little easier. We've changed the tractor into a full fledge hen house, complete with their roosting bar. This is the second night, and it is getting easier to get them to bed down at night. This is after a month of "stuffing" chickens!!!

 

[kcmerenda]

Many of my chickens and my two turkey hens refuse to roost in the henhouse. I feed them in the henhouse and I keep trying to move them to the henhouse each day at dusk, but they keep coming back and roosting on my front porch railing. As you can imagine, my porch is a horrible mess. I also worry about the birds roosting unprotected through nights of rain, snow, and sleet. (On nights of really bad weather, I end up picking them from the porch rails, bringing them inside in cages overnight. The last snow storm, I had the turkey hens sleeping overnight in the bathtub. Why won't the birds seek the shelter of the henhouse in bad weather? Turkeys in the tub is a very not-good solution...