keep pop door open......

[DickGJ]

I open mine every morning before I go to work and lock it up each night even though my run is very secure. The problem I have with my "darlings" is that they don't go in the coop at night so I have to hand place each one in the coop. I've used the trail of food trick on the ramp, and the light trick and turn it on in the evening, but I also have some fairly big windows on the coop so it lights up the surrounding area in the run. Seems to me they seem pretty content with the amount of light distributed outside...to bed down as a flock on the ground underneath the coop. I've been thinking about covering the windows so the only light that escapes is at the ramp...but since they lay down as a group underneath the ramp...I'm thinking that's all they'll continue to do. Perhaps I should place the light in the corner and not at the entrance to reduce the amount of light that goes out around the ramp. Hmmm..

I did see some one mention that the food and water should be kept inside the coop...I have both inside the coop and inside the run. Should I NOT have food and water in the run until they get the "message"

Thanks for the welcome to BYC...what a wonderful site and forum!!!

 

[Snegurochka]

I only close my pop door when I hear coyotes around. The chickens always put themselves to bed, and while my run is only chicken wire, in 15 years nothing has ever gotten through it (except for once, when it naturally rusted through and I didn't catch it in time). However, I realize that it's only a matter of time before a dog rips through it, so I'm planning to replace it with kennel panels and hardware cloth. Personally I don't trust myself to open the pop door every morning, especially in winter, but I really admire those of you who can make yourselves do it.