Not using their clean, straw -bedded coop

[akddr]

My birds rarely use the coop for night roosting and prefer sitting on the roof. Even when temps hovered around zero I’d find these three hens outside. I started putting them in and shutting the door. Now that temps have risen to about freezing I’ve let them stay outside to roost on the poles or roof. None of my previous chickens exhibited this behavior. Is this odd? They are laying well and are otherwise pretty normal chickens.
The coop has water and a feeder inside and lights are on until 10 pm.
Juneau, Alaska

 

[featheredplanets]

There are a few reasons they could be doing this. How big is your coop, how much roost space and how many birds? Have they experienced any predator attacks or stressful situations in the coop? Pictures of the coop can help as well.

It is safest to lock them in the coop until the issue is resolved and they’ll go inside on their own. Everything likes chicken.

 

[gtaus]

My chickens have stayed in their coop for the past 4 weeks. They have no desire to go outside where all that white snow is piled up in the chicken run. We should have a few days above freezing this coming week, so maybe I can encourage the girls to go outside if the sun is shinning. But they instinctively went into the coop at night to roost as the chicken run has bird netting on top and they cannot roost on the roof of the coop if they wanted. So they go into the coop and fly up to the roosts. My chickens would not last long if not locked up in their coop every night. Too many predators in my area.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you have other chickens? Sometimes others bullying them on the roosts will cause this behavior. Do they have room to roost inside even if others are being brutes? These three are laying eggs so they should be adults in behaviors.

Sometimes they do things like this and you can't come up with a logic reason. Their logic doesn't always work the same as ours anyway. I'd suggest you consistently put them in each night until they get the message. Sometimes that happens pretty quickly, sometimes it can take weeks. Try to be consistent, you are trying to break a habit.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'd also check for signs of mites or any other tiny pest in the coop, possibly hiking in a ride from the new straw?

 

[50-45-1]

Any chicken that does not get locked in my coop is usually a dead chicken by morning.
I second all the points above.
Are they bullied out of the coop by older hens?
Is there adaquate roost space for everybody?
Is there a unpleasant lice or mite infestation about?
Has there been an instance of preditor attac they now atribute to the coop?
Id keep putting them inside each night for their safety.
Good luck!