Roosting in the trees, I need some help!

[Amyh]

In the last several weeks, I have been letting the young birds free range with the flock in the hopes of getting them accustomed to one another before I put them into the big coop. The problem is that when I go outside to lock everyone down, the young birds are roosting in the trees. The trees are right over their small coop, but the branches are about 9 feet off the ground. It is not an easy task to get them down and put them into their coop and then lock them down. I don't want to do this every night! It's been a week or two of taking them down and putting them into the coop.... that's not working. What else can I do?

 

[gamechicken]

just get a long borad and stick it under them and easly pull it down

 

[slynng]

Yes, I have a friend who uses a snow rake (for raking snow off the roof so it doesn't collapse). I know you don't have one of those, living in NC, but maybe you have something else similar? He just pokes it up into the rafters of the garage (where one of his hens likes to roost) and nudges her in the chest, near her feet. As he lifts her up, she grabs onto the rake and he carries her down. Crazy chickens!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Train them to come to you when you call, then stick them in their coop before they go up in their tree. An easy way is to get a metal can and some cracked corn or scratch. Rattle the grain in the can and call Heeeere chick-chick-chick and then give them some treat. They'll soon associate the rattle & your call with something good, and you can more easily summon them to you. You can even call them to come, then toss the scratch directly into their coop, where you'll close the door behind them.

Hopefully they'll eventually change their habits to come to the coop on their own. It's difficult when they get it stuck in their tiny minds to go roost somewhere unsafe & inconvenient. I used to have a batch of bantams that roosted high up in a ficus tree. I thought they were safe from predators there in the thin branches, but then a bobcat moved into the neighborhood and made that tree his convenience store. Now the bobcat has been relocated and the remaining bantams now live in a covered coop.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Yeah, mine will follow me if they see me carry a bucket. They know scraps & scratch is coming soon. You can try throwing a little scratch out by and in the Coop just before dark to acclimatize them.