In Coop During Daytime

[Bengalcats1]

My adult chickens seem to be very afraid of wind cause I notice on windy days they hang out in the coop, we have a lot of trees around and I think maybe all the movement scares them

 

[Heckel's Hens]

My younger girls still stay in the coop all day, despite have access to the run. They are still afraid of the bigger girls and won't venture outside too much when they are out there. Ironically, they all hang out in the coop together just fine. Not outside, though. Some parts of the day, I will find all 22 of my chickens sleeping in the coop on the floor or just hanging out. They like options! LOL

 

[ailurophile23]

I know what you mean by the increase in cleaning when the girls stay in the coop - yuck! Plus they should be outside getting fresh air and sunshine and exercise. Could you create a little hidey hole in the run so that if they get scared, they could run for cover that way? This is, of course, assuming that they are scared and that is why they are returning to the coop. But then, who really knows what goes on in the mind of a chicken! Maybe a new structure or toy to grab their interest? Otherwise, shut the door.

 

[Buff-Island-Australorp]

Our weather here in Oklahoma has already reached into the 90's. I can tell already, that my birds prefer cooler temps, and the worst is yet to come. I have a double door system for my human walkthrough door. A solid wood door, and then I can open it up, and I have one I framed with 1X3 pine with chicken wire. I open the solid wood one each day, and it funnels a breeze through the coop. In the middle of the day, I'll find my 9 birds laying in the shavings in front of the chicken wire door. I think they like the concentrated air movement.
I also allow my birds to free range already, (7weeks old) and during the hot weather, they usually stay in the run. The evening time is when they really prefer to range outside.
As for the birds being scared of too much wind, I think I might agree with that. I think they feel as though they can't focus on flying predators either by sight or by sound. That may be why they are hanging out inside.

 

[Capvin]

I really have no idea what suddenly got into their heads but I just now opened their pop door and figure to just let them do what they want. My preference would be for them to be out during the day but I have a bunch of "what I prefer" durig my life without any results. From most of the answers I got it seems that most seem to feel it is better for them to go in and out as they please. My real concern was not doing them any harm by closing them out. When I first got these chicks a bit over seven weeks ago I thought, "how hard can this be" and I can have fresh eggs. After reading a lot of the posts here I have come to feel that these things are suseptable to every bad thing that could possibly happen. Predators, diseases, sudden deaths, etc. It has made me very nervous about having chicks. I dont want to lose any of them as we are very attached to them. I have read here about "culling" and I first thought about the Ralph Lauren seconds store and then I realized that they are talking about murdering the babies. So many have posted about losing their entire flock to something overnight so I built a run and coop that I would need a sledge hammer and wrecking bar to break into and for extra measure put an electric fence around the perimeter. Saw recently how members had to operate on the feet of their hens and thought, "no way". So the first thing my wife and I thought when I considered locking the pop door during the day that one of my chicks would die of "sudden death pop door deprevation." I would write to the forum and tell them what had happened and Jack would respond by telling me how did I not know that closing the pop door would kill the chicks. Anyway...we have decided to just let the little buggers do what they want as far as going into the coop during the day and that is that...Thanks...Don

 

[sjmarshall87]

I would think them going back and forth would be a good thing.. Especially when they get old enough to start laying.. I personally would leave that option of in or out available to them...

Edited to add: If your coop is set up with nesting boxes and you see them going in and out during the day.. go take a peek and see what they do when they go back in.. If they are hanging out in their boxes it will just make "training to lay" easier...

 

[JackE]

Wow, I must have hit a nerve. I didn't know my response was such an insult. After seeing the Pic of the shoebox of a coop you have. I can see why you would fret about the amount of waste 7wk olds put out. Wait til they are full grown. There, now you have something to be upset about.
Jack

 

[ECBW]

As long as they are healthy and happy, there is no need to force them into anything. I cannot help but feel that sometimes owners forget that the birds have their natural tendencies and instincts. Understand and work with them, it would be effective. Trying to change them, all parties will suffer.

 

[lambeke1]

Don, I don't have my chicks yet but I've been reading to try to be prepared. The first thing I thought about when I read your original post was the clean-up. No matter how big or small, it is going to be more if they stay inside. I was planning on leaving mine out when they get in the big coop. BTW, Jack your sarcasm is uncalled for. Just my opinion.

 

[Capvin]

Yes, you are correct about the clean up. My run is mostly sand so clean up is easy. Every morning I hose down the run and rake it a bit and it is like new with very little effort. The coop is a whole different story. I use pine chips mixed with some DE and it does work well and the chicks like it. Again, every morning I try to get out the visible poop with a little garden shovel and turn the pine chips a bit to keep it clean. I also have removeable roosts and take them out every day and hose them off. I like it to be kept as clean as possible because I think in the long run I should have less troubles with diseases and bugs and chicks are, if nothing else, fantastic pooping machines. Hope their egg laying is as prolific.

Also, to respond to someone elses comments, I do have nesting boxes but right now I have them blocked off until they are a bit older. The post seems to say that it is good to leave the nesting boxes open so they "get training" for laying eggs. I was not aware of that and would prefer to unblock the nest boxes but I dont want them to get used to sleeping in them. What is the best advise on this?? Don