Night time routine

[inkognitoart]

Does anyone else nightly "tuck in" the flock in their coop? Something like doing a head count and giving each of the 25 birds a head or chest scratch... asking for a friend.

 

[Sussex19]

I count them and move any that have settled in the nesting boxes on to the perches. Apart from that I don't as they don't seem to like being disturbed. But then they're not the most cuddle at the best of times

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don't even count mine anymore I'm a jerk. I guess I count them when I get home from work because thats when I collect eggs and check on them but night time I just lock them up. They're in a closed run most of the time though so if they're not out in the run I assume they're in the coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That sounds like my hubby. Unfortunately he used to do his nightly chicken routine in his PJs which he'd then wear to bed, and when the chickens had mites, I was the one to suffer since I'm tastier, apparently .

 

[Callender Girl]

I count the ducks because they move en masse into the shelter at night, it's a blur of runners heading inside as fast as they can.

I know how many and which chickens should be in each coop -- and I always say "good night" to all my poultry. Including my two goose girls who have finally decided to put themselves into their house at night without being bribed with treats.

 

[Shadrach]

Yep. Guilty
Every night for ten years, and years before that.
Best time to do health checks particularly if one is new to chickens.

 

[aart]

Does anyone else nightly "tuck in" the flock in their coop? Something like doing a head count and giving each of the 25 birds a head or chest scratch... asking for a friend.

Yep, count them every night when I lock up the pop doors just after dark.
Touching and talking to them gets then used to being handled,
and it's the best time to grab one off the roost if it needs something done to it.

 

[KyCoop]

I have automatic doors so I look out to make sure nobody got locked out of the run. Once the run door closes I know everyone is secure and I call it a night. I'll sometimes look again to see if anybody is locked out of the coop. Usually nobody is as it's dark when it closes.

 

[LabMomma]

I count the chickens and give them all a scratch of pat or something. I also have a hen who wears a hen saddle (she’s my rooster’s favorite) so I will fix her hen saddle because it moves a lot during the day and gets out of position because of that, I will also occasionally move one of the chickens, because my hen, Mable, who is the lowest on the pecking order sometimes is sitting right beside the highest in the pecking order on the roost bars and will get picked on if she’s there, so I will sometimes have to move her depending on where she’s sitting

 

[Mrs. K]

I am a non-toucher of birds. I can and do handle them if I need to, but do not do it on a daily practice. One group of birds, I worked with to be pets, but really found I didn't like it, and most of them didn't like it, so I just watch them. I tend to go down before dark, collect any stray eggs, do a headcount if they have been out, watch them for a while and lock up.

Mrs K