My chicks came home Friday and they wont go up in their roost

[Gallo del Cielo]

Great description of your A-frame experience Linda. I always wondered about how they were to use.

 

[nczookeeper]

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Well with a solid week of rain catching them and putting them upstairs is not gonna happen. Like you said - crawling through the door - with 3.5 feet - its like crawling under barbed wire crap in boot camp - no thanks - especially with them pooping in it for the past 24 hours! My top is designed so both sides open completely and simple to clean - can reach every corner no problem - its as clean as the day it was built - even changed their hay - great quality stuff too - chenged it each week even though they never touched it. I tried one night - nice weather - my hubby and I moved it - very easy to move the way we designed it - and with fresh grass I climbed in and caught one - smacked the crud out of my head trying to turn about and hand her to him. He put her upstairs, closed the door, by then Id grabbed another and handed her to him - then I hear cursing - Trudy, the first one in the upstairs flew the coop when the door opened again - He walked inside while I chased her down. He said "If those birds can't figure out that they should use that ladder to go up and keep themselves warm and comfy at night too bad about them."

It is a point of contention with us - he likes them - gets a kick out of watching them - helps me move them every other night with no complaints, rain or shine - but when it comes to things he says should be instinct he says - "either they learn or they dont but you look at all of these free range chickens running about near the highways with one little dinky house for the humans and no apparent coop - and they survive, those in the Hilton Tractor in the back will likely be fine. Whatcha gonna do? Move them in the house? Get a grip! "

Needless to say, I want to believe they will figure it out. Otherwise they wont survive and Ill cry for a week, cause thats me.

 

[carrlr]

I'm not sold on the fact they have enough venilation. If there is enough, and you don't want to make modifications, here's what I would do. Of course you'll want to make sure it's not raining. I'd open the door and temporarily cover it with hardware cloth. I think if you left it that way for a couple nights they would get used to going in there. Then you could remove the hardware cloth and close the door. Perhaps it's just too dark inside the coop when they would be going in for the night. Mine usually start to settle in when it's still light enough to see around in the coop. If the door to your coop is shut, it looks to me that it's pretty dark on the upper level. Just a thought. Hope this makes sense.

 

[nczookeeper]

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That's a great Idea! I'm not against more ventalation, if they need it - a number of people looked at it up close and said it should be enough - and they have chickens out the waazoo - just not keeping them as 'pets' so. . .I come here for advice. My big thing is with the holes we cut - rain can get in and if its much bigger it can be dangerous when we have to run a light out for warmth in the winter. Water and electricity dont mix!

I;; try the cloth next week when the rain stops - hope they are okay till then

Thanks so much!!!!

 

[sharol]

Try getting a little solar garden light (they have them at WalMart) and charge it up in the sun. Then put it in the upper area just before dusk. Chickens don't like the dark, so they will go where there is more light. At least mine did.

It is pretty dark in the upper part without any windows, so they may be afraid there is a predator in there.

sharol

 

[gryeyes]

How about this fairly simple fix: install a cupola on the top of the coop? The warm, moist, ammonia-laden air will rise out of it, and the cupola will keep rain from coming into it.

Here's mine:


Here's how it started, with the first version of the cupola:

Later, I cut out two windows, one on each side. Put hardware cloth in the openings, but covered them with Plexiglas "window panes" which are removable. (They've been off the coop ever since it got warm - I'll put them back in during the rainy season.)

You can also see how I added more bits of wood to block rain from blowing around the sides of the cupola.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[nczookeeper]

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I had no idea they didnt like the dark! Will do both the hardware cloth on one side on the next dry days and the solar light. I have a ton of them lighting the yard, as one of my dogs is terrified of the dark - he refuses to go out alone if there are no lights. I'm very comfortable with the safety of solar lights too. Thanks for the tip! I cant wait till it stops raining so I can try it

 

[nczookeeper]

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Great suggestions -

I like the idea of the windows - when it rains do you put the plexiglass back on as well? With winter right around the corner. I might wait till Spring before cutting them out. The cupola is a cool idea too - easy enough to make happen. Thanks!

 

[valsey]

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That's the ticket. I'd bet money that will work