It's 34 degrees and my chickens won't go in the coop.

[ehoneybee]

Is the coop(your avatar?) inside a predator, and weather, proof run?
If that is your coop, it's too small for the 6 birds shown..
More info, and pics, on present setup would help immensely.

Yes but I have another coop. One has 3 chickens and the other has 4. The 4 fit into a larger coop. I've had them for over a year and the only predators we seem to have are hawks. I closed the original hens in all winter but I got these girls in spring.

 

[NoFlyBackFarm]

Yes but I have another coop. One has 3 chickens and the other has 4. The 4 fit into a larger coop. I've had them for over a year and the only predators we seem to have are hawks. I closed the original hens in all winter but I got these girls in spring.

Okay, still any predator is dangerous in the cold. I lost some, that’s why I’m warning so much

 

[ehoneybee]

I have about 5 that roost in the run. They started in the summer and now it’s 25F and they are still out there.

So is it just a predator issue and not weather? Like they will even be out there in rain. I imagine when it gets down to the single digits this won't be good. Maybe they will go inside themselves. I mean, I would think I'd have to shut the door at that point.

 

[aart]

Yes but I have another coop. One has 3 chickens and the other has 4. The 4 fit into a larger coop. I've had them for over a year and the only predators we seem to have are hawks. I closed the original hens in all winter but I got these girls in spring.

Which(how many) birds spent the whole winter in which coop? Just in the coop, or the coop and tiny attached run??

So are any of the birds going into their coop?
3 and 4 in those tiny coops may still be too crowded(and those coops usually lack good ventilation) to be comfortable and why they are avoiding going in there...might only get worse as the weather gets worse.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Well the way I see it you have one of two choices.
Don’t force or put them in at night. Spend your energy on tarping/covering the run. Put plenty of bedding down and let them winter outside.
Or put them in manually.
While it is so true that the manufacturers grossly over state how many birds can fit there’s something you can do if you so desire.
I too have a “4 chicken” coop (yeah right?).
Until I can actually build my dream coop this is what I did.
In reality it’s just a sleeping box. My hens get along well and settle in nicely in their itty-bitty crappy artsie-fartsie box.

 

[AlleysChicks]

So is it just a predator issue and not weather? Like they will even be out there in rain. I imagine when it gets down to the single digits this won't be good. Maybe they will go inside themselves. I mean, I would think I'd have to shut the door at that point.

I have a covered run. And my birds are half naked because of molting. They still don’t go in. I ended up wrapping the corner where they roost in plastic so they are at least dry if it rains and out of the wind.
Rain is bad when the temps start dropping, you could lose birds if they are wet. I leave my coop door open into the run. I used to go out every morning before getting in my car to leave for work just to open the coop door. It got old and cold fast.

 

[Howard E]

To piggyback onto what @aart suggests, when birds refuse to use a coop, most times they are voting with their feet. What they find outside is more to their liking than the coop you have provided. If given a choice, and they are going elsewhere, the problem is with the housing, not the birds.

 

[aart]

If given a choice, and they are going elsewhere, the problem is with the housing, not the birds.

Exactly!

 

[rdegray04]

I had the same problem with my 50 birds months ago, they would sleep right outside of the coop on cold nights. You see when they don’t go in the coop at night, it means they haven’t established that that is their home, they haven’t made an attachment to the coop, they haven’t established anywhere as their home as of that point, so what I did was go outside every night and give them some type of trigger to go in the coop, I put a light inside the coop on a timer when the light came on at dusk I would shoo them in the coop and leave enough food and water in there for the evening, then I have the light on a timer and had it shut off after an hour and a half later once i saw they were all settled in, after about two weeks I no longer needed to shoo them in for the night, as soon as the light came on at dusk they knew it was time to go in,it was a trigger. this doesn’t always work but certainly something you could try.

 

[jthornton]

Mine didn't like how dark it was in the roost box so I put a clearish roof panel on one side and as if by magic they all went in that night without any problem. Now after a year it don't matter how dark it is inside ( I covered the clear panel) they all go in. I don't call it a coop because it is only a place to roost and everything else is in the run.

JT