My chickens don't like my coop! What am I doing wrong?

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keep in mind they LOVED it when we first brought them home. Sometimes they would just hang out in there. They only started disliking it less than a month ago when it started getting too dirty. And after cleaning it they still dislike it. I hear you guys on space requirements but then why is this almost the exact design and size sold prefabbed at the store i bought the chickens?
 
Dead Diamonds said:
Ok. So the enclosed outdoor area (the "run"?) is 6' x 2.5' of usable floor space minus the ramp. The enclosed area is 2' x 2.5' - minus the divider walls taking up floor space.
View attachment 1669702
Click to expand...
So the coop area is definitely sized for 1 hen, not including a nesting box area or roost bar... and the run is size for 1.5 hens based on the rule of 10sq ft of run per hen..

It's possible they liked it when it was new because they were smaller? Now that they've grown a bit, then are possibly feeling cramped.
 
A_Fowl_Guy said:
It’ll need to be at least 8sqFt minus nesting area.
Click to expand...

They are in Texas. It rarely gets down to freezing there.
I respectfully disagree that the coop needs to be 8 square feet. It needs to house birds for sleeping and have a place to lay eggs.

Of course bigger would be better. I would like a 4,000 square foot house. Just not always possible. ;)

Dead Diamonds said:
Ok. So the enclosed outdoor area (the "run"?) is 6' x 2.5' of usable floor space minus the ramp. The enclosed area is 2' x 2.5' - minus the divider walls taking up floor space.
View attachment 1669702
Click to expand...

Yes that's pretty small.

ok so options.....
Option A: turn the nest box into a very small coop while you gather materials to make a bigger coop.

Option B: turn the (looks like a run) into a coop by adding walls, vents and a base/elevated stand while keeping the nest as the nest.

Option C: completely start over.

The prefabs are usually very overpriced tiny coops that within a year are being replaced or completely modified because of being tiny.
 
21hens-incharge said:
They are in Texas. It rarely gets down to freezing there.
I respectfully disagree that the coop needs to be 8 square feet. It needs to house birds for sleeping and have a place to lay eggs.

Of course bigger would be better. I would like a 4,000 square foot house. Just not always possible. ;)



Yes that's pretty small.

ok so options.....
Option A: turn the nest box into a very small coop while you gather materials to make a bigger coop.

Option B: turn the (looks like a run) into a coop by adding walls, vents and a base/elevated stand while keeping the nest as the nest.

Option C: completely start over.

The prefabs are usually very overpriced tiny coops that within a year are being replaced or completely modified because of being tiny.
Click to expand...


Sorry but that is the recommended size for a chicken. I’ve been rasing birds for meat and eggs for 10 years and that has always been the standard for any area.
 
A_Fowl_Guy said:
Sorry but that is the recommended size for a chicken. I’ve been rasing birds for meat and eggs for 10 years and that has always been the standard for any area.
Click to expand...

I am 20+ years in with chickens. More square foot is often needed when birds have to spend time cooped up due to weather.

Yes it is often recommended to have 4 square foot per bird in the coop. It is not a hard and fast rule though.
 
21hens-incharge said:
Not sure why you are so ticked at me.:hmm
My coops allow 5.5 square foot inside for the birds. Just so you know.
My birds get snowed in a few times a year.

My suggestions for the OP were to help with their current struggles.

Since I seem to tick you off I will take my leave of this thread.
Click to expand...


Not ticked off, just very blunt. Think of me like Thelma Harper from Mama’s Family.
 
Yeah, so that coop sounds tiny. So here's what I think happened. I think it got very inhospitable in the coop and run as you described. The chickens got to roost somewhere else for a bit and found out that it was MUCH better. Chickens like space and fresh air, and they got that. Now they don't want to go back because their old home, even when cleaned, is just not as good as sleeping outdoors.

4sqft per bird in the coop (Coop being the "house" for the chickens to sleep and lay in) is important for a small number of chickens like this so they each have room to maneuver their bodies in the mornings and at night. 4sqft (2x2') gives a chicken enough room to stretch their legs, flap their wings, scratch at the ground, turn in a circle, preen, jump on a roost, etc. without running into another bird. With only a few birds (2-3) the likelihood of both chickens preforming a space-occupying activity (such as listed above) at the same time is pretty high.
Now that's less important when you have 50 birds. The chances of every one of the 50 birds doing something that requires standing away form eachother at the same time is pretty low. So for more birds it's easier to fudge the numbers. In a group this small they really want that space.

So... The reason stores sell pre-fab coops like this varies but it comes down to money. This coop WOULD fit, say, 2-3 serama chickens. But they are this big:
serama-bantam-gallina-ornamentale.jpg


Compare to a shamo who would not even fit into your coop:
http://www.asilclub.spruz.com/gfile...rot_beak_asil_by_mullapudi_narendranath_1.jpg
Or, alternatively, space concerns are considered arbitrary. Consider the industry standard egg battery cages:
https://p.globalsources.com/IMAGES/PDT/B1157555442/Automatic-Egg-Chicken-Layer-Battery-Cages.jpg

So they will always tell you how many chickens will fit into your coop based on too-tight quarters and then claim it's for small chickens or "industry standard" sizes (ie, 1.5sqft/bird). And they will gladly sell you tiny coops for tiny birds or insufficient space without saying "don't put full sized pet chickens into this" because money.

So, 4sqft indoors, 10sqft outdoors, minimum, per bird, until you have more than 6 chickens.

If you fix the mold issues in the run (the wired part of the coop), they may STILL not want to return because of how small the space is. And they will probably live just fine if you force them to sleep in the coop now that the coop and run are clean. But they're making their preferences for sleeping location plenty clear, and there's probably a good number of things wrong with your coop/run that make it uncomfortable for them other than a few bugs.
So if you want them to WANT to go back into the coop, you should give them a space that's nicer than sleeping on your porch. If you want to force them to go back regardless of what they want, shut them into the coop and run for a few days like you're teaching them where to sleep all over again and they'll get the hang of it. But otherwise they've made it pretty clear that they think the grass is greener outside of their coop.
 
While Austin is not the desert, it is far from tropical ...

Do you have, or have access to a pickup truck?

Sometimes you just gotta make "high ground" ... a pickup truck of gravel would elevate the ground an easy 6" ... drag your existing coop and run on top that ... I'd also move it another 2' away from the fence, but keep it under the trees for the shade.

The fence could be blocking air flow, or a breeze ... something you/they will want in the summer, but also helps with a damp area to dry it out.

Is that low area where the coop now near a wash? Why is it so damp there?
 

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