They love me... too much

[Bokbok]

Lately, when I go out at night to close up their pen, they hear my footsteps and come out to greet me. I have to go back in the house, wait for them to go back to bed, and try to sneak out again! Sometime a couple of times! I don't even know if this could be considered a problem with a solution, but I want to go to bed! Has anyone ever had this problem? I'm just passing the time till I give it another try. I'm considering hooking up some kind of rope-pulley system where I can lower the hatch down in front of their door from a remote location. My husband thinks I've lost it everyone!

 

[Bokbok]

Just now I threw open the back door and ran to the seemingly sleeping chicken coop and lowered the hatch, only to hear my girls complain that I was squishing one of their little bodies. I looked down to discover that two had emerged into the wire part of the cage in the three seconds it took for me to run across the yard. My back door is a little noisy, and I'm sure they hear it loud and clear, so I've left it wide open, I'm going to wait about 15 and then I will try sneaking in my bare feet like an indian. Wish me luck.

 

[rufus]

Send your husband out to close it up. I bet he wasn't all lovey dovey with them. They probably could care less about him.

Rufus

 

[anya40]

I had a problem with my girls getting up on the rafters in the barn and it was almost impossible to get them down. I was feeding them in the morning before letting them out to roam the yard and again at bedtime. I discovered that I had two problems. One was that they felt no reason to go into the coop at bedtime because they weren't hungry, so they hung out on the rafters. The second was that I was waiting too late to put them to bed. So....I only feed them now at bedtime. They are really hungry and are waiting for me to go out and put them to bed. Also, I do it earlier. I put them into the coop at 5:00pm do or die. If I wait until 5:30 or 6:00 I guess they figure I'm not coming and get up on the dang rafters! Try feeding them later and putting them to bed earlier. I have had no problems since I changed routine.

 

[Bokbok]

Anya, thank you so much for the response, because it made me think of things I never considered. Like, for example, I've just been trying to keep food in there continuously all day. They don't have the luxury of free-ranging (tight neighborhood), so I thought it would be necessary. But maybe not? And then you feed them inside the coop, is there enough light in there for them to see what they are eating? My coop is dark inside, even at 5 in the afternoon. Can I ask, what time do you set the girls loose in the morning? Also, I haven't ever seen them go in before dark, but perhaps if I offered them food in their coop everyday at 5...

 

[Kelly FG]

My girls do the same thing, especially my red star. She sits right on the floor in their door opening & waits for me. I have to push her inside to close it. its good to be loved

 

[anya40]

I have my coop in the barn. Actually, I have squared off one corner and fenced it on 2 sides, the other two walls are the barn walls. So, it makes for a very large coop. It is dark in there. They get the light that comes in the door, but that's about it. Doesn't seem to matter where their eating is concerned. I usually let them out to range around 8 am or so. Depends on how early I can get out there. It seems that they are creatures of habit as other animals are. As you know, they hate change! I never left food in the coop at all times, because I'm afraid of rats, etc. So, I just feed them when I put them in for the night. Try it, it has worked like a charm for me. Yesterday I made a HUGE mistake, though. I had bought a bail of straw for their nests. (Got my first egg on Tuesday!!!

). They got to the bail before I did and tore the thing to shreds! I didn't know this, but there are little seeds in the straw (I'm a city girl, just moved to the country, lol) and they pigged out on those seeds all day and I had a hell of a time getting them into the coop last night. Again, because they weren't hungry. Everything with these girls seems to be a game of reverse psychology! They are actually smarter than most people give them credit for. The time they go to bed is up to you I guess. I just do it at 5 because it is convenient for me and I don't have to worry about them until the next morning. Usually, they are half asleep when I go out there anyway at that time. Guess they are "early birds". If you are consistent with them, they will get with the plan. They seem to learn fast and will get in sync with your schedule in a short time. Good luck to you!!

 

[2chicks]

My chickens are in my side yard and when it starts getting dark, they divebomb the windows if they can hear me in the house. Squawk, squawk, squawk, flappity, flappity.... THUMP! Squawk, squawk, squawk, flappity, flappity.... THUMP!

Before I penned them up they would come around to the back door and try to come in through the dog door as soon as it started getting dark.

I try to be real quiet if we have people over...nothing like trying to explain to company why you have chickens divebombing the windows.

 

[6chix]

My chickens free range all day from 5:30 am until they go into the coop by themselves. I feed them first thing in the morning and they get snacks in the afternoon and early evening. They do go to the roost on their own so I guess they are tired after a full day of wandering the yard.

 

[Southern28Chick]

sneaking in my bare feet like an indian.

Hey now, not all of us indians run around barefoot. I wear flip flops so I don't step on poop.