My chickens have started roosting on top of their coop...how can I stop that?

[Fairview01]

R

Sometimes there is something uncomfortable about the housing. When one decides to stray, often the others will follow suit.
I've heard of buildings being moved by 20 feet and the chickens then slept on the ground of the previous site.

Yup

@Indigo a la mode Put their feed in their and some on the ground in front of the entrance and inside the coop. Hunger will.get them in their. Just takes one brave one to go in. Feed them inside the coop for a few days and problem is solved.

Hungry chickens are brave chickens

 

[bruceha2000]

The coop is one of those prefab ones that has a little house with a little run underneath.

Sorry but I always hate to read that. People figure they don't have the skills and the "professionals" do so they buy those coops that hold "up to x chickens" (when in fact they would be suitable for maybe 1/3 that many), made with inferior materials and apparently little knowledge of what chickens really need. Have you checked out the coop building thread? I am certain you could build something bigger and better for less money than was spent on the prefab coop.

 

[Indigo a la mode]

Sorry but I always hate to read that. People figure they don't have the skills and the "professionals" do so they buy those coops that hold "up to x chickens" (when in fact they would be suitable for maybe 1/3 that many), made with inferior materials and apparently little knowledge of what chickens really need.

Oh, believe me, I understand and agree now that I actually have the birds. It's like any new pet, there's always a bit of a curve... I do intend to replace the prefab coop at some juncture, but for this winter I'm just going to close it in with treated plywood and siding to make it a bigger house with an actual roost or two, and connect it to the run so it's all a safe enclosure. When I have the time to dedicate to a major project, I'll build them something a lot larger.

 

[Indigo a la mode]

Put their feed in their and some on the ground in front of the entrance and inside the coop. Hunger will get them in there.

That's the thing...they have absolutely no problem eating inside the enclosure or hanging out inside the coop, even. Their food has been in there for about a week just because it's under cover from the rain. It's just nighttime that they don't want to bother!

 

[Dottypotty]

Ive recently had this same issue with my new hens which arrived and 1 hen who was here who survived her brutual attack off low life thugs.

So I have 5 chickens and every night they use to perch on the outside of the roof and never went in, it was a new coop which I added another nest box on, fox proofed , hardware cloth underneath, sides, etc it only cost me £60.

Anyway hens don't like change, so it took me 2 weeks for them to get comfortable and learn to go inside there house at night , I manually had to carry them in 1 by one. They hate change to,, I built them a wooden pen ever since they've slept on the floor when its time for bed, plus I moved the coop a few yards back. This was on Xmas Eve to . Ever since they've gotten uncomfortable, I wouldn't change anything to my coop till the summer now.

It's nothing to worry about, give them time be patient, it's annoying to hand ball them in every night, my girls are the most fussy things on the planet. I'll clean there coop and run out and the tantrums they have and throwing there bedding everywhere is hysterical, espically my pullet who acts like a Cockerel and bosses them around, she's always the first one out, and last one in .

I hope this helps, it took my girls and my patients 2 ish weeks for them to get comfortable and learn to roost in the coop not outside. I even keep a diary and log my chickens behaviour, wellbeing, etc so I can look back over the months and years to see how there getting on. Id advise everyone to do it, keeps my girls healthy. Also I always check my run, fencing every morning , night I spend 30 minutes inspecting it. So far the girls have improved by 70% . Before that they had no clue I think there iQ was -100% haha.

 

[ValerieJ]

Oh, believe me, I understand and agree now that I actually have the birds. It's like any new pet, there's always a bit of a curve... I do intend to replace the prefab coop at some juncture, but for this winter I'm just going to close it in with treated plywood and siding to make it a bigger house with an actual roost or two, and connect it to the run so it's all a safe enclosure. When I have the time to dedicate to a major project, I'll build them something a lot larger.

That's a good interim plan!

 

[bruceha2000]

it's annoying to hand ball them in every night,

I know that one! I have to carry 3 from the feed room into the coop EVERY NIGHT.

DD2 was doing chicken chores while I was in So. Cal. the end of last month. She said some of the other hens chased these three off the roost so they went into the feed room. I think it is now just a habit for them since I was early one evening and eventually herded all the girls into the coop. I didn't see any of this bullying behavior. Maybe they just enjoy the ride and special attention

 

[Double Yolked]

Put them in each night by hand. They'll sort it out soon enough. Chickens can be really funny about even minor changes.
But, in the meantime, check your coop carefully for mites.
When my girls suddenly stopped wanting to use the coop it turned out I had a hidden infestation of chicken mites. Took me months to be sure that horrid mess was gone for good.

 

[chickencoop57]

Yeah, kinda of know what you mean. I have 6 older hens that would go right into coop and roost, right as it was getting dark but now that I added 6 younger hens, theyre all still hanging out in run, like theyre lost, even when it gets dark. They eventually find theyre way in but I've found if I turn the lights or heating lamps on, right about when the sun starts setting, they find theyre way in faster, then I can shut the trap door behind them.

 

[Ashland Oregon]

Same thing happened to me only I never moved anything. One of my PR girls (Plymouth Rocks) suddenly started appearing outside the pen in the morning (my girls roam the yard all day). I couldn’t figure it out so I decided to leave the pen door open after their sunset mush w milk and watched from inside the house. I saw her exit the pen, hop up the branches of the fir that towers over the coop, and then settled in on top of the pen. Mind you, she had been nesting at night in the coop for the better part of a year. Since we have raccoons, fox, cougars and bobcats in our yard on a regular basis, I couldn’t let the behavior continue. So after dark, I put on my headlamp, climbed the ladder I left out there near her new roosting spot and got her down and into the coop while she was all groggy. Three times and she was over it. Well that and closing the pen door after they get their snack. My PR girls are total drama queens, always making trouble and breaking the rules. Sheesh.