my 8-week-olds won't sleep outside - help with transition?

[JulieAdams]

So, my three 8-week-old Australorp girls are out all day in their house/run but they are so used to coming in at night to sleep in the laundry room -- now that the weather is warming up and they seem to be well-feathered, I don't know how to break the news that they have to sleep in the coop. They literally cluster at the run door and knock over their water with impatience at sundown. And when we let them out to range, they run to my office door and peck to be let in.

But seriously, advice on how to transition them to sleeping in their own house? Do we do just a few hours at first? It's a tractor coop/run, and they have to be inside the house part at night with the door shut for them to be safe. I imagine I'll have to lure them in with scratch? Will it be traumatic when I shut that door?

Help?

 

[gritsar]

Shut the door and then walk away so you can't hear their protests. Providing that your coop has light and fresh air, lock them in for a few days, perhaps a week until they learn that the coop is home. Then you'll have no problem. Come sundown, being in the coop will become second nature to them.

 

[upthecreek]

Well Said !!!!


Quote:

 

[MotherJean]

A poster on another thread was wondering what to do about his 8 wk old chicks not going into the coop at dusk. He was having to round them up and put them in - a tough job sometimes. He discovered that if he put a light in the coop they were drawn to that when it got dark and voluntarily put themselves to bed. He'd turn off the light when he went out to close the pop door. Give that a try?

 

[JulieAdams]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Hillsvale]

Quote:
Sorry can't resist.... conversation with chicks:

Julie: You have to go to bed now..
Chicks: ya... were heading in the house now
Julie: no, poor babies.. momma wants you to go in your coop
chicks: ummm, are you crazy?... its dark out there
Julie: that's no way to speak to momma
chicks: are you locking us out of the house...? No, OK we love you then, (to themselves)... "hehe, she's wrapped around our toes"!

OK so I have a good imagination today but I really could see the conversation going on.

Tuck them in their coop... they'll get used to it very quickly especially if you have trained them to a treat disk, my chickens stomp on each other in an effort to be front and center for their bedtime treats!

 

[JulieAdams]

That's completely spot on!

In my imagination, the chickens are madly texting me.

Chickens at gate: what what what? Where is she? OMG!!!!!!! what?


Question: what is a treat disk?

 

[Hillsvale]

humm... I meant dish..!

from when they were brand new I would being them a treat in a little metal dish (it makes noise when you shake it!... they now go into the coop when they see me coming with the treat dish....

I have new piglets, lamb and goat too.. I plan or training them as well so I don't need to keep catching a flying pig at bed time! lol

 

[JulieAdams]

Gotcha.

Yes, you have to be careful with those flying pigs.

 

[JulieAdams]

Good news! It's been two nights and they've been doing fine.

It turned out I didn't need a treat dish. The first night the three of them were pecking at my door like mad. I picked them up one at a time and marched them back up to their pen (our yard is a hill) and shut the gate. When I came outside later, they were all sitting in the henhouse, so I shut the door. I heard a little squawking (what!!!???, they said) but then it was quiet.

The next day I just left the gate to the run open during their free range time, and they marched into the run and then the henhouse all by themselves after sundown. I just shut the door. Crazy!