New Chickens: I Needed To Pick Them Up And Put Them In Coop Tonight

[francielcsw]

We Finally Just Got Our First Chickens Today: 2 White Leghorns & 1 Barred Rock, About A Year Old, Who Lived Together In A Run / Coop. Tonight, Although We Put A Light In Their New Eglu-go Coop, They Tried To Roost On Top Of The Coop Instead Of Inside It. I Understand That Leghorns, Especially, I Think, Will Roost In Trees Sometimes. We Had To Pick Them Up And Put Them All In The Coop At Night.
My Question: Should We Just Keep Doing This Every Night, In The Hopes That They Will Eventually Understand This Is Where They Should Go At Night. How Long Will It Likely Take Them To Learn This?

It's Important They Go Inside Their Coop At Night As There Are Predators, And Although We Have Made A Lovely, Large, And Largely Predator-proof Run, They Need To Be Inside At Night.

We Are Planning To Leave Them For A Few Days In About 12 Days, Leaving The Door To Their Coop Open At Night As It Will Be Safe In The Run, But Will They Have Learned By Then To Go In It On Their Own?

Thanks To All For Your Kind Help!

 

[francielcsw]

P.s. We Are Planning To Put A Roll Of Chicken Wire On Top Of The Eglu-go Coop To Discourage Them Roosting There. Any Other Thoughts / Suggestions? Thanks!

 

[krissteff]

My suggestion is to confine them to the run for a week. That should give them enough time to feel that is their home and hopefully return to it at night.
Good luck!!

 

[francielcsw]

Thanks Very Much For Your Suggestion, Above. Yes, We Do Plan To Keep Them In The Run For At Least A Week Or So. Hopefully This Will Also Help Them Go Inside Their Coop, Which Is Within The Run, At Night??

 

[krissteff]

You're welcome! It took my chickens quite a while to figure everything out. Hopefully that will be enough to lure them back at night.

Also:

 

[Kaeta44]

Some of mine kept doing the same thing when I first got them. I just kept lifting them into the coop every night and they finally got the idea and put themselves to bed each night now.

http://muckycluckers.blogspot.com

 

[francielcsw]

Thanks to all! It really is great to have your input! We were about to get a table to put the Eglu on, but last night they all finally ended up putting themselves to bed eventually. Today I may add another chicken: Americauna, but they have all lived together before, so hopefully this won't be too much of an adjustment. Thanks again!!

 

[drumstick diva]

That's nice that they all went in - will there be enough room for another chicken in there, if you add one? That's nice that they all know each other - hopefully they sorted out the pecking order before you got them.