Not Going Home?!

[NewbieCiara]

For some reason my 8 Orphingtons refuse to return home at night! They're in a large fenced in area so roosting outside isnt a terrible thing but i would love for them to USE the huge coop I got them! We left them in the coop for a week because we heard that's how they get used to it and now every day for the past week we've been letting them out but they every night we go out and watch them from about 6 pm till 8 pm and they DO NOT GO IN THE COOP! We have to throw them in the door! We've tried keeping them in another few days and it didn't work, neither did throwing scratch up the ramp. HELP PLEASE!

Please and thanks,
Ciara

 

[Darklingstorm]

Have you tried a light? Lots of people (me included) had trouble with getting the chickens in but once you add a light and then turn it off once they are in, after a while they will get used to it and go in without a light.

 

[NewbieCiara]

Never heard of that but ill give it a try, thanks!

 

[devora]

When you started letting them out initially did you do it all day? It needs to be done gradually and can take another week (or for me, longer) to get them trained.

Lock them in all day for one day. The next day let them out about an hour (or even less) before sunset. They will come out, bop around, then go in.

As the week goes on gradually lengthen the time they are out.

Once they are trained correctly you won't need a light.

 

[NewbieCiara]

Yeah we started 2 hours before dusk, then 4 hours, so on and so on