Putting chickens to bed

[DRutt]

Hi! We are new at raising chickens. We are having a hard time getting our chickens to all go in the chicken house at night. We try giving them a treat when its bed time by putting the treat in the chicken house but they are not getting the hint. The chicks are about 9 weeks old. And have been outside for about 2 weeks. Are we going about this the right way? And give it some more time?
Or does anybody have any suggestions?

Thank you!

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Maybe put a light in so it looks lighter in there?

 

[chickengirl778]

Ours had the same problem, and we just kind of nudged them up the ladder every night and they got it after a couple nights

 

[lazy gardener]

Can you show a photo of inside and outside of your coop, including the pop door and entry ramp if there is one?

 

[DRutt]

Thank you for the info we will keep trying to get them to bed. Typical kids (my hens) they don't want to go to bed.

 

[gtcakes]

We had a bit of trouble at first. What we did was put them in their coop (one by one) and shut the door. Took less than a week and they all got used to going in when it got dark.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I had to physically put my chicks in the coop every night. They would refuse to go in and when I would nudge them up the ladder, they would come right back out.
Then one night, they went in on their own. Like they had been doing it the whole time. I think they were around 9 weeks.

 

[bmwilli]

Maybe put a light in so it looks lighter in there?

We were having trouble and the advice to put a light in saved us. As soon as the coop opening was brighter than dusk they went right up the ladder. Great advice!!

 

[corriemartin]

The first couple times I felt like I was chicken wrangling. One day I forgot about them, and when I remembered, I went to check on them, and they were all already inside. I guess they naturally go to bed a little later than I'm comfortable with. I want them put away definitely before the twilight predators comes out.

But lately, they all come running to me when they see me (guess it's the scratch grains I've been giving them, even though most of the time it's just me without any grain). I spend a lot of time sitting in their run watching them.

But since they come running to me, when it's time to put them to bed, I do bring a cup of scratch, and go into the coop myself, and they all come in, and then I pull the door shut with a string. The first time, I didn't have the string, and when I got up to shut the door, four or five went out again, and it was back to trying to herd them.