Picky Polish Pullets

Xlynnex

In the Brooder
Jun 18, 2020
35
21
26
We are having a bit of a dilemma in our flock. First let me explain that we have 1 Brahma Cockerel 2 Brahma pullets and 2 polish crested pullets. The Brahmas were reared together and are very tight knit as a group. The poles are about 4 weeks younger and were raised in our brooder separately. There hasn’t been any real issue w integrating them aside from some huffiness on the part of the Brahmas in the form of some light pecks which we expected. They all graze together as a group and make dirt baths together etc. the problem we have is that the Brahmas will march into the coop like clockwork nightly and settle in as picture perfect as you can imagine. Sounds great right? Except the polish hens refuse to enter the coop on their own accord with the exception of ONE time. I don’t know what happened to them in there that fateful night but they really have an aversion to going in there. Instead they just climb their ladder perch outside the coop but in the enclosed run all night, they roost there until dawn. We have two blink cameras and we have noticed predators in the form of raccoons and possibly a fisher making the rounds at night inspecting and testing the barrier between their bellies and the chickens. We do feel confident we built this thing to Supermax level but one never knows how persistent a hungry animal can be I guess. That aside we have no roof (except the hardware cloth) on the run and the polish hens suffered a cold rainy night where upon seeing their deflated crowns we put them in the coop much to their protest! We have done this a several times.The coop is large enough we believe but apparently not good enough for these princesses ! The Brahmas don’t mind them in there. So we are kind of at our wits end as far as what to do... we got all the necessary things like a chicken guard and large waterers and feeders so when we have to travel for a night or two they are ok, so our question to you chicken eggsperts are should we add another coop to this run and have two coops/one run? Or should we just have an entirely independent set up small coop and run. Any suggestions ?
 
Trying to post pics to accompany this post but I’m having trouble loading them.
 
Some pics of the run and coop
 

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Put them in the coop every night without fail. They will learn to roost there. It may take a week.

Every morning that they wake up in the run, it reinforces to them that that is the right place to sleep. You have to undo this by putting them into the coop instead. Don't miss a night. They will get it.
 
Put them in the coop every night without fail. They will learn to roost there. It may take a week.

Every morning that they wake up in the run, it reinforces to them that that is the right place to sleep. You have to undo this by putting them into the coop instead. Don't miss a night. They will get it.
We did that for about 3 weeks and still nothing when left to their own device, but maybe we will keep trying again.
 
Here are some pictures of the inside of our coop
 

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3 weeks? Blimey. Seems you tried that then.

Remove the roosts in the run for a few weeks. See if that works.

fwiw I have polish and they are little weirdos!
 
3 weeks? Blimey. Seems you tried that then.

Remove the roosts in the run for a few weeks. See if that works.

fwiw I have polish and they are little weirdos!
They are so odd !! Haha!! I think we will try removing the roosts tomorrow and see if that helps, they get way too comfortable up there and don’t want to move.
 
I had another thought. I would reconfigure the coop roosts too. Partly just to shake things up so that they are all a little confused about it, and the polish aren't the "new strange things" in the coop, instead the different layout is. And also because there might be something about the arrangement that deters the polish for some reason. Maybe one is too high, the other too low, too near the window, too far apart, etc etc. Who knows, but its worth a try. If there are pecking order issues, then both at the same level is good. Nobody likes being relegated to the bottom bunk!
 
Here are some pictures of the inside of our coop
Curious which roost do the older birds sleep on?
Seems a bit high for the small foot print.
How old are they, in weeks?

Roost time is the most contentions part of the of the day.
RoostTimeRumble.
The last territory to 'share'.

Agrees that lowering the run roost and rearranging the coop roosts might help.
 

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