Ladder training

[Bcook0315]

Help please-- how do you train pullers to use the coop ladder to go into the coop at night? I have the garden coop and my chicks are almost 6 weeks old. Just moved them to the coop this weekend. I live in Vegas so weather is good. But want them to learn to go up in coop to stay warm. This is my first flock. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Shut them in the coop for at least three days, could even go as long as a week. In that time they will learn that the coop is home and will get into the routine of sleeping there. On the first night you let them out, do so only about an hour before bed so you can watch them. They should go home on their own.

Silkies are a different story. You may need to train them with meal worms or some other yummy snack.

 

[Bcook0315]

Thanks not sure how to shut them in though since there is no door...using the garden coop so only ladder going up to coop. It is open since the coop and run are all enclosed.

 

[Gregory Peck]

We use the Garden Coop too (with the door on the side of the hen house modification) , our chicks learned pretty quickly to use the ladder. The first couple nights we put them up in the hen house, to make them realize that is where they should sleep at night. After a little while they started flying onto the ladder, and slowly and surely learned how to climb up it. Food is always a good way to lure them where you want them to go.

 

[hollys chooks]

Food is the key to getting them to do anything. I'd say get them taking food out your hand and move so that they have to go up the ladder to get more. If they aren't keen on that, treats on the ladder and at the top of it.

 

[Bcook0315]

Thank you for this ! The only thing I am afraid of is the falling out of the coop since they are not use to the ladder! I thought about just "placing" them in the coop at night. Do you think this is good? Again worry about them just falling out.

 

[NYcue]

I also built the garden coop and had the same issue. Funny... at night one would block the enterance of the door preventing the others from getting in. Ultimately what I learned... I needed a light in the coop house. I needed to have the light turn on about 30 minutes before it got dark because once it got dark... the girls shutdown. Even after I placed a light in the coop I still needed to manually put them in the house for a couple of days (training I guess) but now it is not a problem and they go in by themselves. One thing though... you need to be careful that the light itself isn't so bright that it lights up the outside roost. If it does... then they will sit on that roost instead of the one inside the coop house.

 

[SunnySkies]

Funny that you write this, as I was just about to write something along these lines. We built an A frame coop with the coop above a run/feed area (we haven't enclosed that part, as we tend to free range, but I am planning to keep the Silkies in this coop). We kept them in it for a week, and now none of them will leave it! I even opened it and pushed all the shavings away from the hole. Only one rooster made his own way out, and he was clearly telling the others how to come out. The rest leaped out when I opened the door to feed them (oops). I will probably have to catch them all at bedtime and try again tomorrow. We have mealworms....

 

[hollys chooks]

Thank you for this ! The only thing I am afraid of is the falling out of the coop since they are not use to the ladder! I thought about just "placing" them in the coop at night. Do you think this is good? Again worry about them just falling out.

Don't get too worried about them "falling" out the coop. Even with clipped wings they flap and give themselves a soft landing. My big chook, Buffy, jumps off the roof of the coop, about 3 and a half feet, no problems. Once they settle on their roosts for the night they shouldn't move about much, chickens are good at sitting on a roost overnight, it's how wild fowl stay safe from predators.
I have one little pullet who roosts in a tree each night because the others pick on her. Once it is dark I get her out the tree, put her on the roost in the coop, no one makes a fuss and she is still in the same spot the next morning when I open the coop (as long as i get up early enough). Until they get the hang of going in by themselves, putting them in will help them get used to this being their sleeping quarters.