Putting chickens to bed at night

[ACaliforniaChick]

I am a brand new chicken farmer. Started w/ 2 RIR and 1 Leghorn now 17 weeks. They learned to walk the plank to their coop at night just fine. I added 7 more assorted chicks now 10 weeks old. I had the older and younger birds separated until they were all about the same physical size. I would hand carry the younger ones in and out each day. They could all see each other as there was just wire fencing to separate them (in coop and in the run). Now that the fencing is down, they get along just fine. The older birds still go in to roost on their own, but the younger ones don't do so reliably. Some walk the plank and then just stop in the doorway and block the way for the rest. The door is on center with slanted ladder type roosts on either side and they don't seem to use the roosts. I have an electronic door closer and don't want anyone to get caught (though it moves so slowly that's probably not a big risk). Any suggestions on how to get everyone to move in at night?

 

[shelby528]

Personally I find that with my chickens, it took some time before they realized that when they were being put to bed it meant they needed to go inside. What I did was just carry each one individually, set it on the plank to go inside and continue this for about a week or so. My chickens now walk in and out just fine. And as I add new birds, the older ones are teaching the new ones to walk in and out. Just have some patience with these little guys, it does take some time!

 

[scooter147]

Time. I don't know of any way to reliably get them to go in, it sounds like the ones wanting to "roost" in the doorway maybe what's preventing a complete entry.
Eventually when their roosting instinct kicks into full drive they should all go in on time and allow the door to shut.

 

[fhdogs]

My younger chicks do this every night when I let the chicks out to free range. Since I have three mallards that I'm afraid will take off on me I have to let the chickens out, and then babysit until the chickens climb the steps into the coop as it gets dark. They often will all hang out on the steps as if they can't decide if they want to go in or not. This also makes it difficult for the ones who do want to go in from getting up the steps.

Since there are so many places for them to get away from me I don't even bother trying to assist things.

The good news is they all eventually go in on their own. If your door uses a photocell (closes at dark automatically) I'd probably disable it until they get used to going to bed. If it's a timer, maybe set it a little later. They'll start to figure it all out in time.

 

[ACaliforniaChick]

Thanks all. I guess patience is in order with the youngsters. But, I'm wearing out my patience just waiting for an egg! I guess there won't be eggs until they figure out the roosting thing ...

 

[nature nut]

[It took mine a while to figure out they had to walk up the ladder to the roost but now that they have the hang of it I have 2 princesses who go to bed before dark and stay in the house on the roost until way after lunch. Sometimes I have to encourage them to leave their house. DH suggests that I turn off their fan and then they'd be like

and come on out