Jrasche
Chirping
- Oct 9, 2018
- 19
- 68
- 64
So, this spring I got caught with a brooder full of chickens and an incubator full of chickens that needed to move to the brooder.
I quick built a 3x5 elevated coop, 4' tall. With 1/4 mess floor and a roost, to buy me some time. In normal fashion, I procrastinated and found winter coming on fast, do I covered the mesh in a cardboard Amazon box from a drunk shopping night, stick bricks in the corners and covered it in 3" of straw to stop drafts.
I finally got to building my walk in coop. Being in MN, we get some freaking cold wind chills, but being a hockey coach, I am often gone for several days at a time and still want my chickens to have the freedom to go outside when they want, so I kept the small coop as a "front porch" and cut a 2nd hole in it to the walk in coop.
I moved thr food and water, along with the water heater, to the walk in, along with laying boxes and s much better roost, then I locked all the chickens in it for 2 days while it was below freezing out. Finally I opened up the access to the "porch" and they were all free to roam again.
So they use the walk in for feeding and drinking and I find a few eggs on the floor, not the nesting boxes, but if I go out there at night, the walk in is empty and they are all in the very drafty "porch".
What do I need to do to get them to go into the coop? I was thinking about removing the roost in the porch or locking them into the walk in for a few more days?
I quick built a 3x5 elevated coop, 4' tall. With 1/4 mess floor and a roost, to buy me some time. In normal fashion, I procrastinated and found winter coming on fast, do I covered the mesh in a cardboard Amazon box from a drunk shopping night, stick bricks in the corners and covered it in 3" of straw to stop drafts.
I finally got to building my walk in coop. Being in MN, we get some freaking cold wind chills, but being a hockey coach, I am often gone for several days at a time and still want my chickens to have the freedom to go outside when they want, so I kept the small coop as a "front porch" and cut a 2nd hole in it to the walk in coop.
I moved thr food and water, along with the water heater, to the walk in, along with laying boxes and s much better roost, then I locked all the chickens in it for 2 days while it was below freezing out. Finally I opened up the access to the "porch" and they were all free to roam again.
So they use the walk in for feeding and drinking and I find a few eggs on the floor, not the nesting boxes, but if I go out there at night, the walk in is empty and they are all in the very drafty "porch".
What do I need to do to get them to go into the coop? I was thinking about removing the roost in the porch or locking them into the walk in for a few more days?