My Crazy Chickies Don't WANT to Free Range?!?!

[*GEL*]

They are in their coop until about noon, when I go out and let them out into my park like acre yard that has a creek with a couple of bridges and is very wooded, lots of things for them to discover and EAT, but I have to coax them out and then they never travel farther than 10 feet from the coop and half the time they are in a walkway IN THE COOP that is barely big enough for me to turn around in.....lol. I go out when I get home from work to do the chores (whatever they maybe that day) in the coop and they are all over me trying to get in the door wanting to go in for the night...@ 5:30 @ night....crazy chickens! They just simply prefer to hang in the coop I guess?

But I don't get it - they have food and water in both locations. And they come out of the coop when I am out there by the coop working on something outside. But if I'm not there they are either right behind the coop or in the walkway inside the door......

Any Ideas why??

 

[Chicken03]

How long have you had them? If you haven't had them that long then it take a little while for them to venture farther.

 

[gritsar]

They just need more time to work up the nerve to venture further. I leave my coop door open all day long so my hens can go in to lay their eggs and anyone that wants to rest on a roost can.

 

[Lollipop]

Sure they want to, they just don`t know it yet. Give`m some time to mature a little and overcome their shyness and they`ll be all over it. I take it they are young and that there is no hen or rooster to show them the ropes. They`ll get it.........Pop

 

[ChandlersChickens]

Mine didn't get it at first either so I attached a short run and then pulled the run further away from the coop....now it's not on the coop at all.

But now I have the problem of them wanting to stay outside at night. I have to round them up.

 

[tasymo]

Is it possible something spooked them? Make sure there are no predators around. My Girls never hesitated to jump out of their coop and explore their surroundings. They rush the gate to their run whenever I open it, but... I keep my coop and run open for them to come and go as they please, and they do run for the safety of their run and coop if something scares them. My cat is the same way. If we don't prop the door open so she can run inside if she needs too, she won't go outside.

 

[countrygirl23]

If i open the door my rhode island chicks are out of there.

 

[*GEL*]

I have 2 Golden Comets that are just over a year old which I got about 3 months ago and 2 ISA Browns that are about 14 weeks old that I got about 1.5 months ago. They are now intergrated and living in the coop together (I did the quarentine thing and then it took me about a week of letting them all out to free range together and mixing up sleeping arrangements).

I don't know - I don't really mind that they hang out in the coop - it's just that I had imagined them roaming this great yard and enjoying it and it just doesn't seem to be happening. As far as predators go, we have not seen any - and I have never heard them screaming or anything - they seem very mellow. Just attached to the coop......

Oh well, maybe they will get more adventurous as time goes on, I just don't see how that's going to happen if they don't move around a little..... LOL!