Sleeping in the hen house?...

[beannies]

Does anyone know how to train the chicks to use the hen house at night? My girls are in a fenced area with a coop 2 feet off the ground. I have a plank that goes up into the hen house. But the girls all hudle in a corner until I come out and put them in it at night.

 

[airmom1c05]

Close them up in the hen house for 2 or three days. When you let them out again, they will more than likely go into the hen house unassisted. Best wishes.

 

[mudderhen]

I had that same problem. I still do a little, but it is much better. I started placing the birds at the little opening to their coop, and it wasn't too long before I noticed they were exploring it on their own. I think you have to keep light on for them, because since they don't see well at night, they may be afraid to go into a dark area. You may try a light inside on a timer to see if they will go toward the light. We keep the big door open during the day, and they come and go at will, but they can see.

 

[Oakland_Ranchero]

Quote:
This works great. We did this with our last group and it worked fine. Going to do the same with this group when they go outside. . .in 2 weeks.

 

[panner123]

Try feeding them in the coop. It only takes one knuckle head to stay out to keep them all out. Once they stay in for a few nights, they will continue to do so.

 

[blueskylen]

I had a big scare the other night - I usually put the chicks and ducks in their pens at 7pm before dark - neither one is crazy about going in, and I have to go in and even pick some up and put them thru the door.

Well 2 nights ago, I didn't get home till after dark, and went out to put them in. The chickens were in their coop all snug, but I couldn't find the ducks! i looked in their pen ( a very large dog house ) no ducks! i frantically searched under the pen- all over their run - no ducks. I had to go and get the truck to shine a brighter light. that's when I found them - way back inside of the pen- and they had piled the straw up in front of them so that you couldn't see them. I guess they were afraid of the dark.

I was so thankful that they were still there!

 

[LynneP]

You know those little lawn ornaments with the solar collectors? I have a very old one (an angel whose wings fell off...ahem). I bet if you had a window in the coop that receives sunlight that ornament would be a welcome light in the coop at night...

 

[Moselle]

I did a couple things. For 3 or 4 nights, I put them in the henhouse myself around dusk and scattered a treat in there for them. Then for a couple of nights I scattered a treat in and they came on their own, sometimes with a straggler or two

. Since then, they've gone in at dusk all on their own and I just have to shut their door.

Also make sure that they can actually go up the plank themselves. Ours was too steep for our chickens, so we put the end up on a bucket.

 

[Davaroo]

Withold their feed for the afternoon, feeding only in the morning. Then feed them at dusk, JUST INSIDE the coop door. After they've eaten for five minutes, shut the door with them inside.

Do this for several days and then begin removing the feed little by little. After about a week of this, they wont know the difference and will gladly go in at sundown.

Nothing motivates a chicken like food.

 

[litl red hen]

We had a similar problem when we first put the chickens into their coop. I felt the problem was that they couldn't get up the ladder to the door, which has quite a deck in front of it (that's a story). Anyway, for a couple of days we had 2 or 3 that we would have to go and put up on the deck so they could go inside. After that, everyone goes inside just fine.