New Additions to Flock Won't Sleep In Coop

[tdavidson48]

Hello All,
Needing some advice on our growing flock. Our flock started in 2021 with 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Easter Eggers. It turns out one of the reds is a rooster and beating up on the girls quite a bit, we are glad he is around to protect them as they free range quite a bit but needed to do something, thus chicken math to the rescue. Fast forward to spring 2022 we buy 2 Columbian Wyandottes and 3 Barred Rocks. We took all the precautions in raising them and introducing them to the existing flock and as of today are happy and content together all day, we had a few small squabbles but that was to be expected, never any blood or injuries. As our luck would ave it we are pretty sure one of the Barred Rocks is also a rooster. The feed store we purchased them from has a rooster return program where they take roosters back but we aren't sure what to do just yet.

Now the issue we are having, every night the "old guard" birds go into the coop like they always have, however the new girls, the wyandottes and the barred rocks, will go up the ramp and sleep just outside of the automatic door. Occasionally one of the barred rocks will go in the coop and roost with the flock(maybe the rooster?). We started off checking on them and would manually open the door and push them in but lately we have been leaving them to their own free will.

Any idea why they wouldn't be going in at night? I wonder if one of the roosters is bullying them to stay outside? I rebuilt the inside of the coop to make one long roost bar rather than 2 seperate to essentially give everone a fresh start on where they sleep but that didn't help. The feeder is inside of the coop and we have seen all the new girls in and out of the coop all day every day, they just seem to want to sleep on the ramp jut outside of the door.

Thanks all

 

[igorsMistress]

Hi there! How big is your coop? What’s the roost space that’s available? Chickens need about a foot of roost space per bird and plenty of ventilation. It could be too warm or too crowded.

Also, if you do indeed have two roosters then that could be why. My son has three and each goes to their own roost space alwith their girls. They don’t share.

 

[azygous]

This dilemma is common. It can be that the new additions never really got the message about the coop being where they are supposed to sleep. In that case, they need to be put through the pop door each night until they get the message.

More likely, though, they are avoiding roosting time because they are being harassed when they try to find a spot on the perch. I also have one long perch. Roosting time can be quite combative, and the youngest sometimes couldn't find a spot where they would be let alone. So I came up with a solution. Partitions. This allows compartments where the timid and young can always find a spot.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

How late does your automatic door close? In my run, the youngest or newest additions are always last into the coop - sometimes nearly full dark. I close their pop-door myself.

What has helped is shining a very dim flashlight into the coop while they're trying to go to bed. I've found the littles and newbies are a bit afraid of finding their place inside in the dark. As soon as they're all in and have found a spot, I put out the light. Only had to do this for a few days, and now they're all going in on their own.

 

[Percheron chick]

Typical behavior for new additions.

Some possibilities are they are being bullied, the coop is too small or too hot, not enough roost space (11 birds need 11 feet of roost)... Start by leaving a super low watt bulb on in the coop at dusk. As long as the run is predator proof, don't sweat it.

 

[tdavidson48]

It has been pretty warm for our area, that may have something to do with it. The coop has pretty good ventilation but hard with no breeze. As for roost space I believe they have enough but I think I have some ideas where I can add more. That should help. I can put a small light in there to help them go in. The auto door has a light sensor on it so it closes after dusk but before total dark. Luckily the run has been very predator proof so I am not worried about something getting them at night. I guess I could disable to auto door for a few week while the weather is still nice?

Also I don't know how to reply to each of you but I really appreciate it and think I have answered/addressed eveything that was brought up

 

[Percheron chick]

Definitely disable the auto door until they are all going in at night. Don't want one sleeping in the door way at closing time.

 

[Percheron chick]

Also I don't know how to reply to each of you but I really appreciate it and think I have answered/addressed eveything that was brought up

Hit the +quote for the one you want to reply to. In your reply you have an insert reply button. Hit that then type away.

 

[Britzyo]

Hit the +quote for the one you want to reply to. In your reply you have an insert reply button. Hit that then type away.

What did you end up doing? I’m curious because I’m also in this situation but I’ve just been putting new ones in at night. It’s been about 4 nights of that. They don’t need interested in going up to the coop.