My silkie won't go in the hen house

[nmiranda]

I don't know why but she won't go up the ladder to her hen house at night. I am worried because winter is coming. Doe anyone know what I should do? Is this normal for a silkie bantam?

 

[DAFox]

I would like more information. How many chickens do you have with the Silkie? What kinds are they? How old are they? Is the Silkie really a part of the flock or is she more of a loner or picked on? How high does she have to climb? Alot of Silkies don't roost. But, they do go into the coop, even if it is off the ground. Have you put her in the coop every night or have you let her spend the night outside? And how long have you been putting her in the coop?
Dale-Ann

 

[nmiranda]

She is with a brahma bantam and they are buddies. The coop is not to high and has a great ladder. She was in a single level coop for about 3 months until we built a bigger one. Should I put her in a night and hope she learns to go out at day and back at night.

 

[gritsar]

Silkies can have trouble navigating a ladder. You may have to put her in each night.

 

[Dylan's Silkies]

Mine won't go in the house at night either. They'll just pile up in a corner and go to sleep there. You might want to put her in there each night until she learns to go into the house on her own.

 

[DAFox]

Sometimes it takes a long time to train a chicken to go into a coop. The longest it has taken for me is 10 days of putting Silkies in the coop every night.
Dale-Ann

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

I find that very normal. I've actually stopped letting mine out because they have trouble getting back in. But when I eventually get sick of keeping them cooped up, I'm going to 'walk them up' the ramp, then back down, until they understand how it's supposed to work.

That said, this particular coop has a RAMP and no ladder. We didn't even put roosts in for them. In another coop, we use a ladder as a roost at night. The one Silkie who lives in THAT coop never uses the roost. She always goes into a nesting box at night because she prefers it.

Silkies can be difficult. You might need to do some remodeling or else put her in each evening.

 

[citygirlwithchickens??]

We went through the same thing. Our bantams (plymouth rock, silkies & buff brahams) went into their coop on 8/18/10. For about the first 3 to 4 weeks, my daughter every night had to place them in the hen house. Then a few would go in on their own and she would put the rest in. Over the next 2 weeks 1 or 2 additional would go in on their own each night. Now they all go in together in their own special order and sleep in a pack on the floor. They are about 15 weeks old now 12 in total. My daughter is thinking that she'll have to teach them to roost too!!?? According to her, her job is never done!!

 

[sharol]

My 7 11 week olds were still stuffing themselves into 3 nest boxes a couple weeks ago. I put in an addition roost bar (actually, I just changed the type of board -- the original one was round, and I had been planning to change it since I bought the hoop anyway). That evening 3 of the girls slept on the 1st roost (I had changed it out before I moved them into it), and then last night (2 weeks later), there were 4 of the 7 sleeping on the roosts at 10 when I checked on them.

At one point this summer I had 5 chicks (when they were about 6 weeks old) in the same nesting box. They were all hot and panting, and I pried some of them out and moved them, but they insisted on sleeping in a pile in the nest boxes until just a week or so ago. Judging from the poo in the nest boxes (I clean them every morning), only 2 are sleeping in the nest boxes regularly now.

The up side is that they have put themselves to bed in the coop at dusk since the 2nd day they were out in the run/coop. I only had to put them in one night and they got the idea. They have a little solar night light in there to encourage them to go in. If it is darker outside than in the coop, they are ready to go in.

Sharol

citygirlwithchickens?? :

We went through the same thing. Our bantams (plymouth rock, silkies & buff brahams) went into their coop on 8/18/10. For about the first 3 to 4 weeks, my daughter every night had to place them in the hen house. Then a few would go in on their own and she would put the rest in. Over the next 2 weeks 1 or 2 additional would go in on their own each night. Now they all go in together in their own special order and sleep in a pack on the floor. They are about 15 weeks old now 12 in total. My daughter is thinking that she'll have to teach them to roost too!!?? According to her, her job is never done!!

 

[Goldenseal]

when I get new birds I keep them in the coop for a long time, I feed, water and interact with
them there, they have alight etc, only after they know their space do I let them out.
I just open the door, it may take a day or two for them to venture out, they dont
go far from that door, eventually they free range, but always return to
their "home".