Quick Advice Needed: Chickens Freaking Out in Coop!

[gryeyes]

Laurajean, I lock my chicks in the coop for a few days the first time they stay out there all night. All day. Without getting out into the run. That way they learn "this is the place where we are safe, where we sleep at night."

Even so, when I let them out - and this has happened with every batch of chicks - I wait until dusk to gather them up. By then mine have gathered at or on the pop door ramp, but not gone inside. I gently shoo them inside and close the door. No chasing, no drama until I make them go that few inches inside, and then it's just chumbling. (Chicken mumbling.)

Once, I had to move 9 adult birds from one coop to another, and those I didn't lock up for a few days. But I had to carry them from their old coop where they'd gathered, annoyed not to be able to go inside it, to the new one for two nights in a row, one after another. The third night, they got it and went into the coop on their own.

 

[Laurajean]

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Aw, man! All day? I'll feel so bad! They've just started getting used to being outside in the pen during the days and are really enjoying it. God, I'll feel like such a meanie....

 

[Wolfwoman]

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Aw, man! All day? I'll feel so bad! They've just started getting used to being outside in the pen during the days and are really enjoying it. God, I'll feel like such a meanie....

All day. Some people do it for a week to make sure. They won't care until you start letting them out again.... I locked mine down when I first moved them for about 9 day (mainly because the run wasn't done). They were just peachy with it. UNTIL I got the run finished and opened that door.... hesitant at first to go down the ramp, but a little scratch on the ramp and in the run and they were all out there within 15 mins. NOW when I go in the coop in the morning they are a mad stampede down the ramp.... worse than a herd of snuffleupegus!

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

My chicks go out to their brooder house at 10 days to 2 weeks, depending on the time of year and the weather. They are locked in for a week then I have a tractor inside their own run that they can go into until they are too big to go through the chainlink fence that is on one side of their run. Once they are big enough then they can go into their big run.

At seven weeks or so they get moved to a growout house. Get locked in for a few days. Then they can go out into their new run. After a few weeks of that they can have free range in the yard when the hens free range. They normally don't go far from their run or grow out house at first.

When they are 16 weeks old they get moved into the hen house. They are allowed into the run but usually hang out in the house for a week until they get used to the hens. Then they hang out in the hen run, usually at one end away from the hens, and free range after a week or so with the hens. Its up to them what they want to do.

Lots of growth changes around here. I go through this 5 times a year.

Chicks need time in new surroundings to get comfortable with it. Lock them in for at least a few days. Its actually easier on you and them to do that.

 

[Tala]

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DO NOT LET THEM OUT TOMORROW. Lock them in the coop for several days, maybe a week. It will become home to them and they will willingly return at night without any help from you.

Chasing them will only make them AFRAID to go in!!!

 

[Heathercp]

Is your run completely enclosed? Is there any way they could escape - like flying over the fence? If so, I'm all for leaving them in their coop for a couple of days. But...if your run is like ours, covered and with no way for the hens to escape unless I open the door, I think you've got another choice. You can let them out into their run during the day and wait and see what they do when it gets dark. You might be surprised to find that they go into the coop on their own - if it's not to hard for them to get in, that is. Some entrance ramps I've seen look like the birds might need some training to get up and down, but if yours is pretty straight forward, you could be in luck.

If darkness rolls around and your girls are still outside in the run, you can pick them up and put them inside on a low roost if you've got one. I'm always amazed at how docile the chickens are after dark. It sounds like it might not have been dark enough when you tried to put them in the coop last night.

This is what worked for us, and I think it's an option for you - provided they can't escape their run. If you decide to leave them in the coop for a couple of days, they'll be fine too. Just offering a possible alternative.

Good luck.