Keeping Hens From Roosting undesirable places

[happybooker1]

We had 6 months ago 1 survivor Roo that never roosted in the coop but ALWAYS roosted on a window AC outside our kitchen. We moved him into the coop every night for MONTHS n he never accepted it. He eventually went to live at our neighbors place.

2 months ago we got 3 new pullets about 4 months old. Something got one, but the other 2 are ok. This week they have started roosting on that same AC after happily cooping themselves up in the coop for about 6 weeks! We are tired of moving chickens after dark into our coop. Any solutions? We just want normal, coop happy hens.

 

[Anon112]

There might be something about the coop that they don't like. How big is the coop?

You might consider a "bedtime routine"---going out with a can of grubs/mealworms and shaking it, then luring them up into the coop, give them the little snack, then close them in.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

My first thought is that there is something about the coop they don’t like as well. Especially since these chickens weren’t taught this behavior by the rooster. I had a flock that insisted on sleeping on top of their coop for ages. I let it slide because the coop was a prefab with terrible ventilation.