- Mar 21, 2013
- 88
- 3
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I recently put my 8 week old chicks into their coop. 5 days later, I put my 7 week old birds in with the 8 week old birds. I have 26 birds in all. My plan was to keep them all in the coop for at least 3 days. I did this and then opened the coop door that allows them to go into their attached run. The run is 30' by 8' with half roofed and half open with chicken wire covering the roof frame.
After about three hours, not a singl bird had ventured out into the coop, so....being the impatient individual I can be at times, I "helped" them to find thier new freedom. I put a feeder and waterer in the run with them and eventually they began to enjoy the new found space.
Here is my concern: I love BYC and after reading many posts, tried to follow the advice of how to get your chicks to automatically go back into the coop at night on thier own. As referenced above, I had kept all chicks in the coop for 3 days and then opened the door to the run. The first night only about 6 birds returned to the coop. At 9pm I went to check and the remaing 20 birds were hunkered together trying to ward off the 36 degree weather. I picked them up and placed them in the coop.
The next day I opened the coop door and more went out on thier own than the 1 st day, but I still needed to "help" a few get outside. At dark the second night, about half the birds had returned inside the coop, but about half still remained outside huddled together. As before, I picked them up and put them back into the coop for the night.
Last night, I had about 8 birdes who still insisted on staying outside. I again, put them back into the coop.
My question is this: will the rest of the birds eventually "learn" to go into the coop at night on their own? Should I be putting hem back into the coop at night or leave them alone and let them stay out (the coop is all hardware cloth with 12 inches buried below the ground all around the run....should not be any concerns with predators. What does the collective wisdom of BYCers have to say on this topic?
After about three hours, not a singl bird had ventured out into the coop, so....being the impatient individual I can be at times, I "helped" them to find thier new freedom. I put a feeder and waterer in the run with them and eventually they began to enjoy the new found space.
Here is my concern: I love BYC and after reading many posts, tried to follow the advice of how to get your chicks to automatically go back into the coop at night on thier own. As referenced above, I had kept all chicks in the coop for 3 days and then opened the door to the run. The first night only about 6 birds returned to the coop. At 9pm I went to check and the remaing 20 birds were hunkered together trying to ward off the 36 degree weather. I picked them up and placed them in the coop.
The next day I opened the coop door and more went out on thier own than the 1 st day, but I still needed to "help" a few get outside. At dark the second night, about half the birds had returned inside the coop, but about half still remained outside huddled together. As before, I picked them up and put them back into the coop for the night.
Last night, I had about 8 birdes who still insisted on staying outside. I again, put them back into the coop.
My question is this: will the rest of the birds eventually "learn" to go into the coop at night on their own? Should I be putting hem back into the coop at night or leave them alone and let them stay out (the coop is all hardware cloth with 12 inches buried below the ground all around the run....should not be any concerns with predators. What does the collective wisdom of BYCers have to say on this topic?