My hens almost 1 yr old and sleep on the ground, help.

[HawaiiCoyote]

Due to the weather I am home the next several nights maybe week. So my plan is to put them in each night and let them out in the mornings. I am single so this is all on me, no man to fix anything. We have some very very cold nights coming so I want them as safe as possible even if I have to put them in a dog create and bring them in at night. This is not normal weather for us at all. Dumb me for not being better prepared for this, got the coop light on order for next year anyway.


Night #1 I went and put them in the coop with plenty of pine shavings, I even fed them cracked corn right before it got dark gave then some time to eat it then put them up at dark and closed the door.

Some hens are too fat to get up on the roost, are your hens good flyers \ how tall up are the bars?

 

[Charles K]

They really, really don't need heat in the OPs temperatures. It's a bigger risk if you provide heat, the heat suddenly cuts out (i.e. power outage), and the birds die from the abrupt drop in temperature.

Also OP's birds don't even want to use the coop at all, though they can clearly get up there and do so, which to me is a a tougher one to figure out.

I’m sorry if I have bad advice. It’s just a system I use. You can put alarms on them in case they cut out you can be made aware. Once mine are feathered out. They can use the heat lamps or not. I don’t pen up my birds. My livestock guardians keep them pretty safe.
Thanks for your input. I will keep that in mind if or when I pen up my exotics and really rare birds.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I’m sorry if I have bad advice. It’s just a system I use. You can put alarms on them in case they cut out you can be made aware. Once mine are feathered out. They can use the heat lamps or not. I don’t pen up my birds. My livestock guardians keep them pretty safe.
Thanks for your input. I will keep that in mind if or when I pen up my exotics and really rare birds.

Heat is advisable in certain environments, or perhaps for birds which aren't well built or adapted for colder temperatures (young, sickly, birds with unusual feathers, etc.) so it's not "bad" advice. But in this case it's not needed and heat could potentially cause more issues than it'd solve.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Are the Cochins the two who prefer to sleep/lay on the floor? Because that's pretty common for that breed. I have two Cochins in my flock and they rarely sleep on the roosts with the rest of the birds despite there being ample room. They also are always building nests on the floor, to the point where I just put a (cleaned out) litter pail with the lid off down for them to use and keep their eggs out of the scratching zone...I hate finding eggs buried under the straw when cleaning, lol.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Cochins are pretty cold hardy so it probably bothers you more than them that they're sleeping on the ground. I had the same battle with mine, she was super stubborn when it came to my roosts! Mine refused to use the 2" boards and until I offered a 4" alternative I lost every battle. I didn't realize until I put in the coop cam just how ungraceful my cochin was, so it totally made sense why she was adamantly refusing the narrower options! Might not be the same issue with your girls, but I figured I'd mention my solution in case it was helpful, my coop is much larger though so I don't know if it would be possible for you to switch a roost in yours. They really shouldn't be allowed to sell those prefab coops, way to many people with the right intentions being led astray with all the wrong information they put on the box!

 

[Tlco]

Ok so I thought about it and I came up with a better solution. 250watt ceramic heating bulbs. You could put them in the coop with the ceramic brooder lamps. Far enough above your hens so they do not get over heated or it be a possible fire hazard. I buy them on eBay really cheap.

Ordered but wont get her till Wednesday. Today is night 3 I put them in the coop again, dummies sleeping out in run by chicken wire feathers full of snow.

 

[Tlco]

Are the Cochins the two who prefer to sleep/lay on the floor? Because that's pretty common for that breed. I have two Cochins in my flock and they rarely sleep on the roosts with the rest of the birds despite there being ample room. They also are always building nests on the floor, to the point where I just put a (cleaned out) litter pail with the lid off down for them to use and keep their eggs out of the scratching zone...I hate finding eggs buried under the straw when cleaning, lol.

Yes the Cochins sleep on the floor of the run and lay in a nest which they made, refuse to use the ones I have in the run or the coop. Barbanter just goes along with them other then laying in the nesting house. They have no problem getting in the coop there are ladders and a 5 gal pail they jump on to get in it. Plently of poo on the legde to show it. They fly very well.

Night 3 I went and put them inside the coop and shut the door. The silly birds feathers were full of snow.

 

[Tlco]

Cochins are pretty cold hardy so it probably bothers you more than them that they're sleeping on the ground. I had the same battle with mine, she was super stubborn when it came to my roosts! Mine refused to use the 2" boards and until I offered a 4" alternative I lost every battle. I didn't realize until I put in the coop cam just how ungraceful my cochin was, so it totally made sense why she was adamantly refusing the narrower options! Might not be the same issue with your girls, but I figured I'd mention my solution in case it was helpful, my coop is much larger though so I don't know if it would be possible for you to switch a roost in yours. They really shouldn't be allowed to sell those prefab coops, way to many people with the right intentions being led astray with all the wrong information they put on the box!

Where to start. They have 3 different roots, 1 2 inch bar, 1 3 inch bar and one 4 inch bar they refuse them all. Yesterday the darn Brabanter laid her egg on top of the coop. I had 2 fake eggs up there and the silly girl laid right next to them.

Night 3 went and put them in the coop, silly girls has snow and sleet on their feathers,

 

[Tlco]

Night 3 went and put them in the coop, silly girls has snow and sleet on their feathers, gosh I hope they get it soon, I only have a week off work to teach them.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

It just dawned on me now that you have Brabanter in the mix! Between the three of them they might just be too warm in the little coop! I would love to have a few of my own but I've got to wait until my crest hating production reds move on from this world. A friend has some beautiful gold spangled ones with marvelous black beards that NEVER sleep indoors. They're some of her most predator savvy, Canadian winter tolerant chickens, and they DO just roost in the trees by her barn and look like little chick-sicles half the year with ice in their cheeks and weighing down their crests. But they're some of the most entertaining chickens I've had the pleasure of watching just do their thing. I would totally believe she laid that egg there for sheer comic relief! I would really really suggest not adding heat to that coop!

Do you find your brabanter loud? My friends are pretty screechy, and I've heard the same from others but I keep hoping someone will tell me otherwise