My chickens won’t willingly go into their coop at night.

[Mrs. K]

ditto ^^^ especially if you are going to be gone!

 

[tizabel_]

Take the heat lamp out. They are too old for it.

Two of my buff Orpingtons are 7 weeks and they are much smaller. I kept the heat lamp in the coop because the buffs were shivering and seemed unhappy. It also gets around freezing during the night. I will take it out when we go camping and have it just in case we get a stormy night.

 

[rosemarythyme]

i fear that spending 2 days in there would get pretty cramped. Especially considering that they are used to having the whole run during the day, it would be quite the downgrade.
But since we can’t get a chicken sitter, that might be the only option. Thanks!

Since it's only 2 days, I think this is the best solution for now, especially since they're still young so still smaller and taking up less space than adult chickens. And yes, with the heat lamp off - it would be terrible if that sparked a fire that spread to your house while you're gone!

They might not be happy about being locked in, but they'll be safe. And it's only for a short while anyhow.

 

[BL Chicken Man]

I have almost the same exact issue but I don't have the heat lamp going. They love to come out in the morning and have no problem going up the ladder if they want to but, but just won't return to the coop at night so I've been taking them in by hand. I'll try keeping their food and water in the coop and see if that helps. Here's a couple photos of my coop and run.

 

[tizabel_]

I have almost the same exact issue but I don't have the heat lamp going. They love to come out in the morning and have no problem going up the ladder if they want to but, but just won't return to the coop at night so I've been taking them in by hand. I'll try keeping their food and water in the coop and see if that helps. Here's a couple photos of my coop and run.
View attachment 2157617
View attachment 2157621

Looks great! Did you build that?

 

[tizabel_]

For the past few nights they've been going into the coop by themselves! I turned the heat lamp off and put their food and water in the coop. Thank you so much for helping!

 

[Mrs. K]

I do know, that most people have ramps in that kind of set up, but as an alternative, I have had a platform, jump up on one, high enough to jump up in the coop. Just another suggestion.

 

[BL Chicken Man]

Looks great! Did you build that?

Yep, just putting the finishing touches on it!

 

[BL Chicken Man]

I do know, that most people have ramps in that kind of set up, but as an alternative, I have had a platform, jump up on one, high enough to jump up in the coop. Just another suggestion.

Roughly how high is each platform?

 

[Aunt Angus]

I do know, that most people have ramps in that kind of set up, but as an alternative, I have had a platform, jump up on one, high enough to jump up in the coop. Just another suggestion.

I actually used an old 2-step stool for my bantams.