Spending all day in the coop then roosting outside.

[Compost King]

I am not really seeking advice here, I know what to do but if someone wants to chime in with advice maybe it helps someone else so its still welcome. I just have 2 bantams RI Reds (male and female) who were raised in a cage with a bunch of other bantams. They are fully feathered but not mature. I have them in a coop they do not seem to want to leave. Until dark when the come out to roost. I just put them back in the coop at night so no big deal. I just thought that was a little different of a situation than I have encountered before. Even if I can't fix it they are easy to find because they roost in a small pen and I have to shut their coop every night and picking up 2 small birds and putting them on the roosting bar isn't exactly much of a chore. I honestly believe a couple days of heavy rain might cure them from roosting outside. Now if only I can get them to come out and forage, the pen is starting to look like a small fallow field. I never had an occupied chicken pen with plants growing in it lol.

 

[aart]

What does their coop and run look like?
How long have they been in there?
Were the other bantams with them in there and are now gone?
How old are they?

 

[NatJ]

Are you saying they want to sleep in their old cage, not their nice new coop? That's perfectly normal for chickens, and you just need to teach them to sleep in the new coop.

Putting them in each night works eventually.

But, considering that they aren't coming out anyway, I suggest you just shut them in the coop for several days and nights. They will get used to the new sleeping place, and maybe when you next open the door, they will be bored enough to come out and forage

 

[Compost King]

The Coop is the size of a pallet and about 4 feet tall inside and 1 foot off the ground. the Run is 6x10. Its designed for 6 Large Fowl, 5 hens and 1 rooster but I found 3 hens and 1 rooster made for less aggression. The Coops its self has above average ventilation but its hot and humid here so that's needed. If its windy and winter time I do cover 90% of the vents with cardboard or it will have a wind tunnel. Wind is rarely below 50 ft from the ground here, just a strange phenomenon. So I can over ventilate my coops here provided I am vigilant in checking wind conditions in fall and winter. Due to the nature of the construction of the run the there are spots that Bantams can roost that large fowl struggle to get a foothold on. These spots are higher than the coop roosting bar. So its no shock to me that they will prefer to roost outside until we have rain . This coop and Run is just the Temp place to stick these birds until a Coop designed specifically for them and their offspring has been completed. I just need put up 2 tiny nest box walls and could be done tonight if it was high priority or done by the end of the week.

 

[NatJ]

In that case, it's probably easier to either let them sleep out, or stick them in each night, and focus on getting the proper coop done. Then you can train them once to sleep in the right place, instead of teaching them to sleep first here and then there.

 

[Compost King]

I Forgot to mention, they are coming out of the coop now, When I made the Original Post they had been in there 2 days its getting close to a week.