Teaching chickens to go up ramp

[chickndays]

How do you teach them to do this at night? Right now we're having to catch them and put them in the rooster at night. They're about 7 weeks. In the morning, the ramp comes down and eventually they all go down it.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

How do you teach them to do this at night? Right now we're having to catch them and put them in the rooster at night. They're about 7 weeks. In the morning, the ramp comes down and eventually they all go down it.

Put food or treats on it. To they have a run or do they free range.

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Right now you will have to catch them and put them up. You can just set them on the ramp and let them try to go up on their own. They will learn quickly that that is their home and that is where they sleep at night.

 

[3KillerBs]

When you pick them up to put them in at night gently "walk" them up the ramp and put them through the pop door.

It will take them a while to learn, but they'll get it eventually.

 

[Isadora]

Would you attach a picture of your ramp? If it's really narrow or too steep, it can be hard for chickens to navigate and they might be reluctant to use it.

 

[chickndays]

Here's the ramp. It hangs about 2-4 inches from the ground. I've seen them walk up a couple rungs to poop on it or roost during the day.

 

[3KillerBs]

Here's the ramp. It hangs about 2-4 inches from the ground. I've seen them walk up a couple rungs to poop on it or roost during the day.
View attachment 3081976

Chickens don't generally like a ramp as steep as a 45-degree angle and if it moves when they jump on it they won't like that either. Can you prop it up on a concrete block to make a shallower slope and a more stable surface?

Even so, they'll take some time to learn what to do.

In order to teach them, go out when they're settling down in the run, catch them, hold them wtih your hands over their backs, and gently bounce their dangling feet from rung to rung as you move them up and put them through the pop door.

It will take a little bit, but they'll catch on.

 

[cece_chickens]

Here's the ramp. It hangs about 2-4 inches from the ground. I've seen them walk up a couple rungs to poop on it or roost during the day.
View attachment 3081976

Put some treats on it

 

[drdoct]

I put scratch on mine and let them eat their way up. But they were going into the new coop before I moved them. They liked the laying nests and were using them. But they wouldn't go in there at night. So I had to rehome them by locking them up in the coop for a day. Then we still had to catch and put to sleep. So we waited for a rainy day and locked them in for a weekend. After that, they started just going to bed. My chickens are fairly young at 8 mths so they jump up almost the whole distance up.