I won! Stubbern Roo

[RlgNorth]

It has been getting down to 25-20 degress at night now and so I have been locking the birds up at night in the coop, but my one stubbern Roo would not go in on his own and I would have to chase him down and catch him this would take forever!! I even left him outside a couple of nights. Last night I went out and he was on the fence as usual I went to walk up and grab him and he jumped down on his own and went in the coop NO PROBLEM! as if to say ok MOM you win.... YAY!!!!! Now I need to work on the ladies not sleeping in the nest boxes (that starts tonight)and I have it MADE!

 

[Judy]

Are your roosts wide and flat so they can rest on their feet? They will like the roosts better that way.

I have to shoo mine in every night and they are over a year old, but at least they go in readily now, and wait near the door.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

What I did about the nest box roosting was to cut some cardboard and block off access at night, then remove it in the mornings. After about a week they went to the roosts without blocking off the nests. Also make sure the roost are higher than the nests.

 

[RlgNorth]

We have 2x4's for roosts with it getting soo cold at night in the winter we wanted to keep thier toes from frost bit. one roost is taller then the nest boxes and the other is about even. Tonight I am doing the cardboard cover and start training them to use the roost some of the ladies already do . Only problem is... at about 8pm after I put the kids to bed is when I go out there to put them to bed LOL and they are all ready in the next boxes so I am going have to remove them one by one and then cover the boxes. Or I might go out there before dinner and do it after I know they are done laying. PLayin by ear. A part of me wants to let them sleep in the nest boxes cuase they all snuggle together to stay warm and with -40 temps ( plus heat lamp) that might keep them warmer I dont know what to do .

 

[gritsar]

My roo won't go in until all the hens have and he's made a pass around the coop to be sure everything is as it should be.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

-40 WOW!!! When it's that cold you are right. They are probably getting cold and snuggling together to keep warm. You could put a box on the floor with bedding for all of them to get in together when they are cold. Then move the cardboard from the nest boxes to the floor in the daytime and vise-versa at night. After a few days they should learn that the box on the floor is for night time, and the nest boxes are for laying. Just an Idea...

 

[RlgNorth]

That is a good idea!! I just made three more nest boxes and they wont lay in them HAHA so maybe I can train them to just sleep in those and lay in the others lol the new next boxes I made are HUGE. We are not at -40 yet but by halloween we start getting -10 and then it goes DOWN hill from there lol till end of feb. Will definatly be an excpirance being my first winter with chickens. But I know a bunch of ppl up here who have them and do just fine. Worst case I told DH they will sleep in our bathroom at night HAHA he wasn't very happy about that comment.