the past three nights

[wanabefarmhouse]

The past three nights my 6 chickens have slept I .The garden boxes attached to my deck up against the house instead of theit coop where they normally disappear to as soon as it gets dark. Why all of a sudden after 3 months would they NOT be sleeping in their coop?

 

[sunflour]

The only reason I can think of is that something in their coop has frightened them and they feel safer in the new location.

Do a thorough inspection of the coop and roosts to see if you can see anything different - evidence of pests or predators?

 

[centrarchid]

Predator scare, mites, excessive heat and lights going down too fast can all cause a shift in roosting location. Once problem corrected you will still have to address the imprinting process to get them back in on their own.

 

[wanabefarmhouse]

That's what we were thinking too. We searched and inspection and found nothing alarming. So strange.
The only thing that's changed is a week ago today we got 4 three week old pekin ducks. They are too in the same space but don'tuse the coop they have their own house. But the chickens just started this three nights ago which means they were fine the firstfour nights sharing the chicken run to their coop.

 

[wanabefarmhouse]

Thank u so much. Do u have any suggestions on addressing this? I would really love to get them back to their house at night it was so perfect how their schedule was

 

[centrarchid]

A picture of coop helps with lighting issue. Especially if taken in the evening as chickens start going to roost. Lighting is very important. With adults mine roosting indoors give in to the night a good 30 minutes before those roosting outside. If lights inside go down too fast then the indoor birds shift to roosting on porch. Ventilation may need to be stepped up.

If you have a new flock then parasites not likely.

Ducks could have a role if bullying chicks at roosting time.

Make certain you do not have an opossum or rat getting in after feed at night. Their activity can cause chickens to shift roost location. Bad risk otherwise as well.


Make adjustments, then confine birds to coop for three days to re-imprint them on the coop as a roost site.