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

[Dead Diamonds]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/

Keep them in battery cages for all it’s worth then. There will be behavioral issues.

From that link:

"If all you use your coop for is to provide a safe place for them to sleep and you commit to getting up when they do 365 days a year so you can open the pop door, you really don’t need much space in the coop itself. "

Yup. That me.

I let them out just as the sun comes up. A few minutes later they go back in and up into the nesting box to lay an egg. They "free range" my backyard all day, and then they would go back in by themselves at dusk.

Not sure why you are so ticked at me.
.

The lens of social media distorts things.

While Austin is not the desert, it is far from tropical ...

It's almost exactly half and half. It's like the turning point when the greenery of the east starts to turn brown of the west. So you get these fluctuating extremes of bone dry desert weather, to extremely dank humid weather. It dips below freezing a few times here and there every winter. Some winters we get 1 or 2 days of snow falling from the sky, sometimes enough to pile up on the ground just enough for snowball fights. And some winters no snow at all. It's like once every 2 or 3 years. No snow this year so far

This corner is the lowest point in the yard, and the water has pooled up about 1" off the ground, but not high enough to breach into the run. It probably has flooded into the run a few times during the heavier rains we had.

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.

Thank you for the excellent info. (everyone else too). I have a feeling even if I bought the Turbo Chick 2000 / Taj Mahal like Lazy L did, they would still prefer the porch. It's a really nice porch. I would have to keep them cooped up for a few days to retrain them no matter how nice the new coop is.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Agreed, the porch is probably nicer than any coop, but the nicer the coop is, the less of a fight you'll have getting them back out there in my experience.

When I move my chickens out of my garage (quarantine and brooding area) into the coop (100' to the end of my lawn) they always take longer to roost in the coop when they're more crowded. When I had 8 birds in a nearly 20sqft coop (2.5sqft/bird) they took a long time to make the transition. I had to move them back into the coop for two weeks. When they couldn't get back to the garage, they'd sleep anywhere else instead, even in the door to the coop, for a while. When I moved 4 chickens into a nearly 40sqft coop they slept in there every night after only 2 days. So it's clear that crowding makes a difference in preference, even if training is required no matter what.

And, incidentally, stress is a killer. The happier your birds are, the healthier. So I'd opt for more space than less.

 

[123RedBeard]

This corner is the lowest point in the yard, and the water has pooled up about 1" off the ground, but not high enough to breach into the run. It probably has flooded into the run a few times during the heavier rains we had.

If there is standing water ... even the adjoining nearby areas that don't have standing water, the ground is water-logged ...

Judging by the mildew on the fence ... it would be better to move the coop/run farther away from the fence, and onto higher ground, or make higher ground ...

 

[aart]

"If all you use your coop for is to provide a safe place for them to sleep and you commit to getting up when they do 365 days a year so you can open the pop door, you really don’t need much space in the coop itself. "
Yup. That me.

Well, yeah, but....there's not even room for a roost in what you have there....it's 'nothing but nest' ...and you don't want them sleeping in the nests, unless you like to clean a lot or have poppy eggs.

 

[Dead Diamonds]

If there is standing water ... even the adjoining nearby areas that don't have standing water, the ground is water-logged ...

Judging by the mildew on the fence ... it would be better to move the coop/run farther away from the fence, and onto higher ground, or make higher ground ...

Thank you. Yes it is a damp area. The dark strip of land is the wettest and takes the longest to dry out. But the weird thing is, the dry strip of land along the fence is usually dry or will be the first area to get dry in the whole yard. This dry strip is their favorite dust bathe area:

That dry stip in a few hours will extend to behind the run to the corner:

But the area that the run sits on will stay damp for a long time before drying up. So I don't understand why that one section stays so wet, and right next to is the driest area in the whole yard. It's been like this even before I put the coop/run there.

off topic: i miss having grass

 

[123RedBeard]

I think a pickup truck sized load of gravel placed along side existing coop/run (where door is open) then slide/drag coop/run up onto the gravel, that will prevent water from standing thete, and dry out much quicker being farther away from the fence too.

 

[aart]

that will prevent water from standing thete,

Would it prevent it...or just 'hide' it?

 

[123RedBeard]

Looks like the water is coming/running down to that spot ... so ... it should divert the water, and prevent in from standing ...

Just like a mountain ... is it hiding part of the river next to it ... or is it diverting it?

 

[aart]

Looks like the water is coming/running down to that spot ... so ... it should divert the water, and prevent in from standing ...

Dirt would, water would just run thru gravel...of course 'gravel' is a wide term.

Couple loads of dirt to build up an area to put a larger coop on would be great.
Hard to tell the 'lay of the land' from pics provided....or nay pics if slope is slight.

 

[PirateGirl]

Ok, I have read through most of this, and skimmed some bits. I think at first there was some misunderstanding with terminology. I understand that ideally you would like to work with what you have. I don't think you have to start over 100%. Provided your chickens have access to that lovely large yard you have much of the time, since you live in a warm environment, their coop is really just a place to sleep and lay eggs. Ideally if you can lock the door behind them at night they will be safer. Your goals seems to be dealing with the damp, and making the coop more desirable than the deck or next to the AC unit.

I think if you can get your whole structure off the ground it will help. You mentioned putting it on cinder blocks and I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this. This will help with your moisture issues, and also chickens instinctively like to roost on a high spot for safety, so having everything a little higher will make it more attractive to them. I would run your roost bar the long way instead. Sometimes chickens don't like to snuggle so close with others in the flock. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes one is a bit of a bully, I don't know, but making the roost bar longer now that they are full grown will allow them to decide how close they want to be to each other. I would then add a wood floor to the wire cage section. This could even just be half of the floor, so when they hop in through the open door or hop off the roost they have a solid landing pad. It looks like your setup is protected from wind by your property's wood fence on two sides. You may or may not have to add wood walls around some of the wire cage section. You could alternatively attach something like a tarp or shower curtain on the side the wind comes from typically. Do they normally lay in the nest boxes now? If they do, then I really wouldn't mess with those.

I think you have a structure you can work with. Yes, 4 square feet per bird is a good guideline, but what my birds need where there is snow on the ground most of the year and strong winds and what your birds need in a warm environment are not the same. I think you can work with your open design, and with minimal modification it may be more attractive to your flock.