Silkie won't go up in coop at night. Ramp issue.

[GreenBabe5]

Hey all,

Our coop is still just new and has not full run and paint etc yet .

My chickens took a bit to get used to using their ramp to their under coop run. Actually it took about a week. All use it and go up at night but our Silkie fluffy gets to the top and starts to sleep there. Meanwhile 7 other full size chickens step on her and use her as a step ladder on their way up. Then each night after dark I go out, climb in the coop and pull her up. When she stands up half her body is over the height of this last jump but she just will not go up. I'm afraid if i add another little ladder in there the big girls won't be able to go in and out. Any other suggestions to get her over the hump?

The coop trap door (8 x 10) and the ladder is four foot by 8" wide with 2 x 2 rungs) has a door i close at night so i cannot add anything tall for her. These photos are from the building stage. I haven't snagged one of her sitting in there yet. The trap door when raised the side littler stop board comes up too so there is no lip for her to climb all she has to do is hop from the ladder to the coop maybe 5 inches. Once i attach the outside run to this thing its going to be a pita if she finds more reasons she cannot get in the coop so i need to fix this asap.

Its' been 7 days of me lifting her in.

Oh and NONE of them roost at night, they sleep in a pile right against the trap door and window wall. Sometimes i have to move chickens to be sure they are all there as they really crush each other. I put the silkie on the roost and she will then sleep there all night. I tried that with the others but they hop down before i get out of the coop.







Little fluffy amongst the large girls.

 

[Whittni]

This is actually very typical of Silkie Bantams. Eventually she'll go up on her own but she may be subject to pecking from the other birds and doesn't want to go with them. Watch them for a bit and see how the behavior around her is.

 

[GreenBabe5]

I watched them a few nights go up, she's up there about an hour before the rest give in. Then i watch the big girls walk up, come down, over and over making little noises like " get out of the way" eventually they all give in and walk on her to go up. You'd think she'd want to get away from them and go up but noooooo

 

[SunnySkies]

I have a good number of Silkies, and the only ones that will go up the ramp are the ones I raised with other breeds of birds, like from day 1 were with other birds. Silkies in general don't seem use ramps readily. Heaven knows I tried...but after like a month of bushwacking through the shrubs every night to capture black birds, I gave up and built them a coop on the ground, lol. 4 are in with some other birds, but they hatched together.

 

[GreenBabe5]

She is about 2 weeks younger than the rest but all raised together form that point. I wish she would just learn from the others! Silly silkies.

 

[SunnySkies]

The ones I have that I put in with others later, that didn't hatch with other birds, never have figured it out. Good luck!

 

[GreenBabe5]

Update: I was worried about the girls in the heat yesterday so I did my chicken count (they were all down since the morning) and Fluffy the silkie wasn't in the run. I opened the coop there she was, she had walked back up on her own. So again at 10pm i went out to do my check and she was sleeping in the coop not on the ramp! I hope this continues! Now to figure out how to get them to use the roosts. Maybe they are too loose since they are removable. I may have to try and perma mount the roost.