New chicken mama questions

[Ms.tiamaria]

I will usually sit with mine in a lawn chair just outside the run.
They start out in the run on the roosts out there peeping and getting up and down.
Then they start going into the coop going in and out.
As it starts getting darker, they are all in the coop but they all want to be right next to the door for some reason!
So they’re crammed in one corner next to the door.
I talk to them while they’re doing this and tell them how silly they’re being.
Somehow one of my cockerels ended up with a limp the last few days and I know it’s because of these bedtime shenanigans.
My coop is a prefab and it actually has 3 doors which I’m grateful for now because I’ll open them and pick up some of them and move them so they’re not so squished.
But most of the time they just go right back to the pile
They do quiet down when it gets darker.
I think they instinctively know that noise will give them away to predators.
I don’t know if you know but chickens have very poor night vision.

I just walk back to the house. My older birds are usually in their coop not long after the young ones. They don’t make such a fuss. It’s just a chick thing.

I think you have to bite the bullet and leave them to their peeping.
I’d hate for them to become used to you holding them as they fall asleep and they get bigger and bigger.

They’re in a safe coop, they’ll be fine!
Like I said, they settle down when it really gets dark.
All they really need is to just grow up.
They all go through this stage and they won’t have any trauma from it.

I do agree it’s hard to listen to...that’s why I go back in the house after the coop is locked up
Good luck to you!
You can do this!!

Thanks for your story! Still just wish I knew why they do it. I read that sometimes chicken freak out at bedtime because they may be scared of the parasites that come out in the dark, or a possible predator that has been harassing them at night time. They have no predators at night because they sleep in the house, and I highly doubt they could have parasites at this point. I don't know, maybe you're right and they just need to grow up. I love them to bits. Have you had chickens for a while? If so, is this something you've experienced with all your chicks?

I've also begun teaching them to roost. I've read that most silkies don't, but I'd like them to. I feel it's more sanitary than sleeping in a pile of their own poop, and what happens when we add other breeds and they are sleeping on the roosts with the silkies below!!!!

So because of the poor night vision that you mentioned, I go in after it's dark and they've fallen asleep. I pick them up and set them on the roosts. Because they're sleepy and probably can't see well to get down, they end up staying there for the night. Can't wait for them to get up there on their own!

 

[CannedMonster]

Thanks for your story! Still just wish I knew why they do it. I read that sometimes chicken freak out at bedtime because they may be scared of the parasites that come out in the dark, or a possible predator that has been harassing them at night time. They have no predators at night because they sleep in the house, and I highly doubt they could have parasites at this point. I don't know, maybe you're right and they just need to grow up. I love them to bits. Have you had chickens for a while? If so, is this something you've experienced with all your chicks?

I've also begun teaching them to roost. I've read that most silkies don't, but I'd like them to. I feel it's more sanitary than sleeping in a pile of their own poop, and what happens when we add other breeds and they are sleeping on the roosts with the silkies below!!!!

So because of the poor night vision that you mentioned, I go in after it's dark and they've fallen asleep. I pick them up and set them on the roosts. Because they're sleepy and probably can't see well to get down, they end up staying there for the night. Can't wait for them to get up there on their own!

I think it’s just an immature thing.
I have older birds that are 9 months old and they don’t do it.
They haven’t in a long time.
I think it’s also a heat lamp thing.
They get used to the light being on all the time.
Then it’s gone when they graduate from brooder to coop.
I’ve heard chicks raised under those heat plates are calmer than ones raised under heat lamps.
I’m going to do that with my next batch of babies.