My chicken hates me.

[Florida_country_boy]

I also have the same problem (rescued a chicken who doesn't like the coop),except she was roosting on my deck. And soon they all started doing it. Our trees are too big for them to reach the lowest branches. I have been battling this for 2 months, and lock-down did not work for me. I tried throwing them off the deck, corraling them with a stick, carrying them, etc. Nothing worked. But I think I might have found the cause in my case.

I think they are roosting on my deck because of all the lights, it stays lighted all night long. So last night I turned off all of the lights about a half-hour before dusk, and only had one hen roost on the deck, all others went to the coop.

So in my case, I think I just need to turn off the lights in the back yard.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Fascinating! Good for you for figuring that out.

 

[klmclain1]

At 13 weeks - they're still unruly and unfriendly teenagers! She'll warm up to you in another month or two. In the meantime, I vote lock-her-up for a few days. She's young...she'll learn.

 

[Jajika]

Can't hurt to lock her up for a few days. Got nothing to lose by trying. Good luck.

 

[smkchick]

Well, I got her into the coop late yesterday afternoon with every intention of leaving her in there for a couple of days. I figured if she got it, great, and if not I would be no worse off. This morning, I ignored the whole thing, got ready to go off to my sub job. I looked out at the coop and she was up and about and having a little something to eat. Five minutes later, she was pacing around the coop like a wild thing, clearly agitated. I let her out and tonight didn't get home in time to corral her. So tonight she's in the tree.

But here's the thing. I think the roosting area is fine, but the run isn't big enough for her to stay cooped up in all day (sorry, I couldn't resist). I was a little disappointed that the coop was so small when it arrived, but I figured it was only one chicken (this was before I found out about chicken math) and she was free-ranging anyway and only needed it to sleep.

So now I have three chicks that eventually will be sharing the coop. Don't laugh, but we are going to "dormer out" the roosting area by adding nesting boxes to the back. I think I'm going to expand the run area so that if I need to lock anyone down, there will be plenty of room for roaming around without having a nervous breakdown. I wanted to keep the whole coop thing to a minimum because I live in a suburban neighborhood, but it's just not working for me, so I'm going to do some remodeling. In the meantime, I'll get her into the coop as often as I can and hope she gets the idea that she's supposed to sleep there. We've actually been doing pretty well. This is the first time in 5 or 6 days she hasn't been in the coop all night. My daughter wasn't this much trouble as a teenager. She always slept at home!

Here's a picture of the coop:

Good thing next week I'm going back to unemployment so I can do some "home improvements"!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:

Now there is a chicken lover if I ever saw one!!!

Sorry OP I have no advice, just reading your thread.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I'll add my 2 cent story. The hen taught eenie meenie mini moe and oreo to sleep in the trees at about 6 weeks or so, she started a nest and wanted them out of her coop! Meanwhile we finished the large coop but I couldn't get them to choose to roost there, each evening I had to catch them, one evening all I could catch was moe. I felt bad about locking her in the coop without her buddies (really? yeah) but she is my favorite so in she goes, the others wouldn't come to me to hand feed and couldn't care less...they'd found something better I guess.
That evening at about 2 am an owl snatched meenie from the tree, he snapped his neck on the ground and then flew off with him, the others came screaming down to the house - and I had no trouble catching eenie and oreo, mini hid under the house. I put those 2 in the coop, I left them there for 2 days. (I caught mini the next morning and put him in the coop) They have never gone back to the tree and are always the first ones to roost in the coop too)...so sad, I no longer have meenie.
Suburban areas have owls too, we never heard or saw that owl before this happened, keeping them locked up for a few days is the kindest thing you can do for your chickens. Owls hunt with thermal imaging (from what I've been told) so I doubt if flashing lights are going to stop them, esp after they get used to it.
I've read on a thread here about putting a light in the coop to draw them in too - that sounds light a good idea and added reinforcement after her confinement. Good luck and don't procratinate like I did. I really should have insisted.

 

[smkchick]

Thanks so much for sharing your story. Of course, now I won't sleep a wink!

I will insist she's locked up every night, although I can't really do a lockdown until I make the run bigger.

I'll try putting a light in the coop to see if that helps.

It's a good thing she bonded with my DP - now he's hooked too. It will make it easier to get the construction started.

Now where did I put my hammer and chicken net??

 

[Florida_country_boy]

I just wanted to report back that turning off my backyard lights ended up not working at all. They were still roosting on the deck at night. However, I have found that the water hose works extremely well. I sprayed them with water the last few nights and they hate it, and run right for the coop. I bet it would work good for getting them out of the trees as well.

 

[smkchick]

Thanks for the advice. Gladys is in day 2 of lockup. She's handling it fine. We made the run bigger (by 20 sq. feet) and she's roosting higher up than before. Time will tell. I'm working again tomorrow, so I'm planning on leaving her for another day. Probably release her Saturday afternoon when I get home. I'll see if she heads to the coop at dusk.

If not, I'll break out the rubber hose!

Thanks for the input. Keep me posted.