Should I just admit defeat?

[thepick4uchicks]

Ok, thanks that does sound good. what kind of “night light” might you recommend? We don’t have power reaching to the coop. The coop is enclosed in a large omlet chicken run which is impenetrable- my only concern is that the raccoons climb on the run at night, and I am afraid they will reach in and grab on of my babies while their sleeping. I am certainly not new to chickens and I would never let them stay out at night, however their coop run is quite safe (other than the crawly raccoons who can’t actually get in, I have not had an incident in two years, and the last time it happened was with the old run and coop)and I don’t feel a need to lock them inside the actual coop at night. my 3 old hens had no issues when learning to go in the coop- they actually started to go in by themselves. I’m going to take the branch out so that the babies can’t keep roosting on that, maybe that will encourage them to go in in their own.

Once again, do you have an idea of a good nightlight?
our coop is a snap lock coop- certainly not a good size for my 7 girls although my parents do not want to buy anything more so it’s what we have to work with.

I don’t actually have power in my coop either. I can run an extension cord to it if I had an emergency and needed to do a minor surgery or needed to provide treatment to an injured hen. What I have placed in my coop is one of those battery operated stick up lights that you can place practically anywhere. Many folks use them for under cabinetry lighting in campers and boats a lot. We bought them for our camper and I got them for a good price off of QVC. They also sell them at home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. Mine is about as large as a saucer for a coffee cup set. It works great for just enough lighting for them to see to get on the roost when they have run too close to dark and have lingered outside too long for whatever reason in the run and have not entered the coop soon enough in time especially for the heavier girls my Orpingtons to heft it up on the roost boards instead of stop gapping at the poop boards. I also will pop it on and do a head count when I have run behind and waited until after my own supper to lock them up. I have an automatic coop door but have not installed it yet. My girls just had a super hot summer to go through here and I didn’t think it was best to keep the coop door closed all day. I decided to wait until fall to install it and that is what we will do in the next couple weeks. Another thought is this. My girls were older like 11 weeks when our coop was completed because of Covid, supply chains, shipping channels, July 4th holiday, and so we got delayed with the severe heat as well putting them outside so they were in our basement a while. We had them on our screened in porch then we had a coon actually try to come inside our house to get to them by coming into the porch and trying to open our back door. The security alarm alerted us to that as well as the other noise he made. Anyway they didn’t roost until the second night in the coop at 12 weeks old. So maybe your chicks are just a little young depending on their breed also. I am a newbie also and I just know that some breeds are different in their roosting behaviors than others. I put roosts in their brooder setup and I have three breeds. Some were more interested in flying and perching early and some didn’t show the interest until later. My Orps were the slower to roost but they like to fly higher off the roost now but they have less flight control it seems. My Flower hens are my high flyers and distance runners and love to perch outside up high in the run so they can watch and see what is going on around them. My Legbars are the best flyers from the ground up and have more flight control of all because they are lighter and they can get away from me much faster for sure. They could fly as high as they needed to. These are just several opinions and may not account for much but maybe they will help you figure out your Chick situation. It’s just good that your run is secure from predators. That is always a blessing. It’s good we can out our heads down at night and sleep knowing they are secure whether they are in the coop or in the run or on the roost or down on the floor on the bedding.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I could try that

doesn’t sound like an awful idea- I’m not stupid enough to release them Back on my property but belive me, I have heard of that happening. the branch is far from the side but where fits Into the coop bars, is where they sleep and it defeats the purpose of having it out fat, because the r right next to the side. The roof has a plastic rain cover but I’m not saying that’s gonna stop anything, although the roost is too low for them to reach in up there. I checked the prices on the hardwire clothe, and while we do have about 6 feet of it it’s not cheap and 6 feet won’t get you very far. We have some rolls of chicken wire though, but I know it’s worthless. I’ll talk about some coop upgrades, and getting some hardwire. I’m currently working on a chicken run update, fresh mulch, dust baths, etc, but most of this is recycled material (mulch from a recent storm that knocked out plenty of trees, we had a mulch truck come to chop it up for us) I’m sure I could try and convince them that the hardwire would help, I know they are concerned as well.

 

[K0k0shka]

It's not fair to wild animals to wag free food in front of them, and then complain and kill them when they try to eat it (re: "just kill it" type of comments). Remember, we are on their land, not the other way around. Making your coop and run predator-proof is the best way. If the run can't be predator-proofed, then the chickens need to sleep in a predator-proof coop, but from the description it sounds like your run is fine, too. You can cut a piece of hardware cloth and affix it to the run fencing immediately around the branch end where they like to sleep, and make it only as big as you need to, to make sure a raccoon hand can't reach the chickens. That way you protect the vulnerable area at the branch's end, but without using up too much hardware cloth.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I don’t actually have power in my coop either. I can run an extension cord to it if I had an emergency and needed to do a minor surgery or needed to provide treatment to an injured hen. What I have placed in my coop is one of those battery operated stick up lights that you can place practically anywhere. Many folks use them for under cabinetry lighting in campers and boats a lot. We bought them for our camper and I got them for a good price off of QVC. They also sell them at home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. Mine is about as large as a saucer for a coffee cup set. It works great for just enough lighting for them to see to get on the roost when they have run too close to dark and have lingered outside too long for whatever reason in the run and have not entered the coop soon enough in time especially for the heavier girls my Orpingtons to heft it up on the roost boards instead of stop gapping at the poop boards. I also will pop it on and do a head count when I have run behind and waited until after my own supper to lock them up. I have an automatic coop door but have not installed it yet. My girls just had a super hot summer to go through here and I didn’t think it was best to keep the coop door closed all day. I decided to wait until fall to install it and that is what we will do in the next couple weeks. Another thought is this. My girls were older like 11 weeks when our coop was completed because of Covid, supply chains, shipping channels, July 4th holiday, and so we got delayed with the severe heat as well putting them outside so they were in our basement a while. We had them on our screened in porch then we had a coon actually try to come inside our house to get to them by coming into the porch and trying to open our back door. The security alarm alerted us to that as well as the other noise he made. Anyway they didn’t roost until the second night in the coop at 12 weeks old. So maybe your chicks are just a little young depending on their breed also. I am a newbie also and I just know that some breeds are different in their roosting behaviors than others. I put roosts in their brooder setup and I have three breeds. Some were more interested in flying and perching early and some didn’t show the interest until later. My Orps were the slower to roost but they like to fly higher off the roost now but they have less flight control it seems. My Flower hens are my high flyers and distance runners and love to perch outside up high in the run so they can watch and see what is going on around them. My Legbars are the best flyers from the ground up and have more flight control of all because they are lighter and they can get away from me much faster for sure. They could fly as high as they needed to. These are just several opinions and may not account for much but maybe they will help you figure out your Chick situation. It’s just good that your run is secure from predators. That is always a blessing. It’s good we can out our heads down at night and sleep knowing they are secure whether they are in the coop or in the run or on the roost or down on the floor on the bedding.

The do not have an issue with getting up to the branch roost- my top flyer (my SLW-she is so little, that she’s like a pigeon) can get up there quite easily, as can my poor flyers. Not extremely high off the ground, probably about 4 feet but it’s a bit tall for the littles. The Coop roost, however, is very short for them, although there are 3 hights in there. The typically sleep on the lowest one when I put them in there bc the big girls take the high ones. they always say to get the coop before the chicks, but sometimes you can’t resist yourself. Mine are 14 Weeks on Saturday. Two EEs, a SLW, and an Orpington (lavender) I’m lucky to have never run into bumble foot or anything requiring surgery or treatment (we run into a few colds every few years but those are just little sneezes) but I have Had a couple girls get poop stuck to their vent feathers (adult pasty butt- they were quite embarrassed!) and I had to clean that up in a warm plastic container serving as my tub. I have string lights wrapping around my coop only the last time I ran an extension to light them up (since the cord is green) the cord was run over by the lawn mower (happend multiple times but I’m not willing to plug in the traffic cone Orange one just yet)

 

[CHlCKEN]

It's not fair to wild animals to wag free food in front of them, and then complain and kill them when they try to eat it (re: "just kill it" type of comments). Remember, we are on their land, not the other way around. Making your coop and run predator-proof is the best way. If the run can't be predator-proofed, then the chickens need to sleep in a predator-proof coop, but from the description it sounds like your run is fine, too. You can cut a piece of hardware cloth and affix it to the run fencing immediately around the branch end where they like to sleep, and make it only as big as you need to, to make sure a raccoon hand can't reach the chickens. That way you protect the vulnerable area at the branch's end, but without using up too much hardware cloth.

The whole point of this thread was that I couldn’t get the chicks to go IN the predator proof coop however Your idea would put my six feet of hardware cloth to good use! When they are on the ground, the bars are to close together for a hand to stick through, but the hight that they roost is not close enough together (I can’t put the branch lower bc the bar width won’t allow it)

 

[K0k0shka]

The whole point of this thread was that I couldn’t get the chicks to go IN the predator proof coop

You could try training them to go in. Sometime before it gets dark, go inside the coop, call them in and give them some kind of favorite treat of theirs. While they're eating, close them in. Since it's not dark yet, they'll be able to see and position themselves for sleep (they may complain at first, but they'll get over it). Later, after they've roosted and gone to sleep, you can sneak back out and open their pop door so they can get out in the morning. It's a bunch of upfront commitment on your part, but after a while, when they learn the drill, you can start weaning them from the treats, and ideally, one day the going inside part will have become such a habit that they'll just do it on their own for sleep, not just for treats anymore. And the upfront work with the payoff of solving the problem long-term is better than moving them indefinitely the way you have been doing, which is not working....

 

[aart]

go inside the coop,

Coop is too small for the 7 birds, let alone a human

certainly not a good size for my 7 girls although my parents do not want to buy anything more so it’s what we have to work with.

Then time to sell a few birds.
How old are these birds, in weeks or months?

 

[K0k0shka]

Coop is too small for the 7 birds, let alone a human

Didn't see that... Oops. Maybe that's why they don't want to go in, if it's too crowded?

 

[aart]

Didn't see that... Oops. Maybe that's why they don't want to go in, if it's too crowded?

Likely....haven't seen pics yet.

 

[K0k0shka]

Training them to go in with treats can still be done though. Put the treats in from whatever human access door the coop does have, and call from there.