Pullets won't go into hen house at night

[Rt66Kix]

I have some pullets I got as chicks right before Easter. They were living in a chicken tractor next to the hen house. Four days ago I put them into the main house. The first day there was a little bit of a pecking order established, but nothing severe. The 8 of them do still stay grouped together, but they are starting to interact better with the rest of the flock.

The problem is at night they do not want to go into the hen house! I have to chase them around and grab them, and then stuff them through a small opening in the henhouse one at a time. It's aggravating to me, and frightening to them. Even last night when it was thundering and lightning and pouring down rain, they huddled outside the door and would not go into the hen house.

I would appreciate any and all suggestions! Is it too soon to expect them to go in with the rest of the hens when it gets dark?

 

[PioneerChicks]

Teaching chickens to "home" requires a bit of training. Sometimes they will start following the older hens' example in a week or so, but most the time you need to train them.

All you need is food, water, and room inside the coop. Leave them in for three-four days and nights. After that, you can let them out and they should go back in. Sometimes pullets, like teenagers, will decide to be a little stubborn and try to sleep in a tree or on top of the coop, but just patiently move them back into the coop at dusk and they'll catch on eventually.

They may be frightened to go into the coop with the bossy older hens in it, but they'll just have to get over it if you only have one coop.

Try to put them in around dusk. If you have to catch them, wait until they settle down. If they won't sit still, go back inside and try again when it gets a bit darker. Chickens can't see in the dark and most the time don't try to run when they can't see. If they do run, they run blindly and are therefore easy to catch.

Good luck!

 

[City Farmer Jim]

Can you separate the BIGS from the LITTLES? We had your problem EXACTLY. We separate the bigs from the littles and close the gate to the coop run until just about dark. The littles have learned quickly to head to the farthest roost then we let the bigs in and they roost almost immediately..I like to think of it as the littles having to run a gauntlet if the bigs are in first not something I would want to do in the dark ....

 

[Daniellebell1]

I had the same issue, and I just thought MY HEN IS A JERK.

So maybe I should have seen some contrariness coming when we named her Ruth Bader Hensburg. But seriously. We have 4 young pullets, raised from just a few days old. We built a shiny new coop and kept them in it for little less than 2 weeks. Now they free range during the day in our back yard, and they come waddling over when I come outside, hopeful that I have some lettuce or grapes to toss them. And then around sunset, I go to the coop and call, "All chickens go to bed!" And they hop into the coop. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.
Ruth Bader Hensburg is all: "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIIIIIIIVE" and she runs around the yard in a crazed fashion. She's so fast! And so determined not to be caught!
We wait until nightfall, when she has found the highest possible branch of our fig tree, and then climb a step ladder to retrieve her, flapping and squawking and scratching and protesting with all her might.
I know the girls love the fig tree--they hang out in it all day during this awful, muggy heat. And I just have to believe that eventually Ruth will get the idea, and come in with her sisters.

 

[Rt66Kix]

Progress! I have horses, and I have a longe whip that I use ONLY as an extension of my arm. I do not beat them with it! It is about 6 ft long with a 6-ft thong. I took it up at dusk, and went into the chicken yard and gently started waving it back and forth horizontally. The hens all gathered up and the older ones went right into the hen house. The littles got close to the door, and two went in. The other ones I had to either gently pick up, or give a little nudge with the tip in order to get them up the ladder and inside.

This went a lot quicker, and was a lot less drama! Thank you everyone.

 

[Madvalleychick]

Is there a light in the house? I put a night light on just before dusk and In a few days all my pullets were regularly coming in. I don’t need the light anymore. They all roost at 8:30 sharp.

 

[amk122284]

I second the light! My first night, im sure I looked like a circus trying to get them in, I even pulled my husband from our house to come help try to coral them. I was feeling defeated and went into the coop and flipped on the light and all most immediately all 10 of them came running in lol. 50% of the time I have to flip a light on to get them to all come in but since the light discovery I havent had to chase a single one around.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I also use a nightlight. I turn it off when I lockup the coops after sunset.
If there's no electricity in your coop, get one of these. It runs on 3 batteries included, $5.99. Turn on before sunset.
It comes with screws and sticky tape or just leave in package and hang on a nail or hook. GC

 

[Daniellebell1]

Fascinating! Thanks for the tips, y'all! I'm going to try the nightlight out this week.

Also, I should mention, instead of Ruth learning from her sisters, now the sisters have learned from Ruth. All 4 of them now require nightly fetching from the fig tree. I hope the night light works!

 

[Daniellebell1]

Here's an update on our hen-herding situation. We kept forgetting to buy a night light, but started paying more attention to the time of day. If we go out right at dusk (for now, that's like 8:05pm), and call out "All chickens go to bed!", all 4 chickens just hop on into the coop. Any later and they will roost in the fig tree and have to be fetched individually. But now I have an alarm set, so all's well that ends in safer chickens. I think I was really underestimating how important their internal clock is. It's like, if I wasn't ready to close up the coop by the time they were ready for bed, they were going to take matters into their own hands (wings?). What hilarious weirdos