Training to go in at night?

[peckpeckpeck]

One more thing for the flyer --
I put up a branch just to the side of the pop door. All 3 girls like to use that as a "landing strip" to fly in & out of the henhouse.

 

[Cryss]

This is the cleanout door.

 

[Cryss]

Oops....I don't know how to comment properly on my pics! The BOTTOM pic is clean out. The TOP pic is pop door partially closed to show it better. I just wanted to make sure my pics were not confusing.
If I lock them in as suggested I wont be able to sift out poops for a couple of days. Is this going to be a problem? I usually clean every morning after I lock them outside, I worry about moisture.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I will never understand laying out roost bars at floor level, those are right in the bedding. And if you're having to clean every single morning, then ventilation is a huge problem as well.

I just looked at your other thread. Have you considered turning the entire enclosed coop/run combo into the coop? That will help fix your roosting, ventilation, and space issues. Take out any interior walls that you can, that are closing off the smaller space, then run a 4' (or longer) roost bar well off the ground, like 1' to 2' up. Close up the exterior walls that face your primary wind/precipitation direction(s), if needed, but leave the rest open for ventilation. Depending on your nest box location you may want a ramp or ladder, or you can replace it with a box in another location if that isn't convenient.

 

[Cryss]

I will never understand laying out roost bars at floor level, those are right in the bedding. And if you're having to clean every single morning, then ventilation is a huge problem as well.

I just looked at your other thread. Have you considered turning the entire enclosed coop/run combo into the coop? That will help fix your roosting, ventilation, and space issues. Take out any interior walls that you can, that are closing off the smaller space, then run a 4' (or longer) roost bar well off the ground, like 1' to 2' up. Close up the exterior walls that face your primary wind/precipitation direction(s), if needed, but leave the rest open for ventilation. Depending on your nest box location you may want a ramp or ladder, or you can replace it with a box in another location if that isn't convenient.

I actually have considered this but it's not going to happen at least until spring. I've totally gone over my initial budget for purchasing chickens, coop, and protective run. Like, more than double. Hubby says the 4 girls will need to produce an egg a day for 30 years to break even. But I was imagining taking out the wall, removing the clean out tray, enclose total thing but leave the open bit at the end in the roof peak for ventalation, build a wood table about a foot high covering the top with linoleum, put entire coop on top of the table. Then I could deep litter the bottom half, roost the top, and make a new arrangement for nesting (that's the part I havent thought through yet).
Hmmm... primary wind /precipitation direction. Not sure. Would that be north and east, because winter storms are called northeasters? I may have the wrong side of the coop enclosed! If sp im in trouble cuz it's an inaccessible side now.

 

[imnukensc]

If you're not able to do anything else at all that's understandable, but I would urge you to get those roost bars off the floor. It will cost you next to nothing and you just might find your birds are more amenable to going in the coop to roost at night.

 

[Hope Hughes]

Agree.
If there is one thing I think that desperately needs done beore spring is night roost. They will thank you in the long run. ​

 

[sbhkma]

I always use a battery operated night light the first few nights. They want to "go toward the light" and it works really well.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

So a pop door is the door the chickens come out of the hen house through? My coop has that. It has a sliding door. It slides sideways, easily
accessed through the upper gate on the coop.

When I read through the reviews and Q&A for this coop - originally this coop did not have the pop door. They added it to the newer models within the last year or less. So, that’s probably why the other person mentioned no pop door.

When I first got my chickens - though much older than yours - they were going to roost on the perch in the run. I just moved each one of them into the coop. I only had to do it 2 nights and by the 3rd they tucked themselves in.

I think if the chickens didn’t have access to the run, the coop would be too small for full grown chickens to do anything but roost in it. There’s just not much room for activities.

I put up some plastic and tarp to their run extension with the hopes that they can still use it once the snow flies.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Technically the roost bars aren’t on the floor, they are up at least 3-4 inches. And, technically the roost bars are about an inch higher than the nest boxes. They could definitely be higher - no argument there. There is a lot of shavings in the coop from what I can see in the pic posted. I’m not saying this coop is perfect, but, it’s not as bad as it’s being made out to be. My 4 girls do well in it. I don’t have an issue with it smelling or anything unless someone just pooed right when I got there to open the pop door in the morning. I clean out the poos every day, but only because I’m anal about these things. I have left it for two days and no problems.
If she’s going to take out all the walls and add this and that -she might as well build a whole new coop because anything you add is going to be a heavier wood than what is used and it will alter the balance of the frame and make it so that doors don’t close or locks don’t lock. I added a piece of thin wood to the back of the nest box door and it weighted it just enough that I have an issue with the locks, but it’s minor enough it’s only a problem when I’m in a hurry.

If I was Cryss, I would just save a few dollars and buy a shed that would work; or if handy enough, I would think about spring plans to build a new coop. Which is what I’m going to do myself. But, for now, the coop works well.

@Cryss if I were you, I would decide which tip I was going to implement and stick to it for awhile. It seems to me that chickens love consistency and schedules. So, if you are going to place them in the coop each night, do that consistently at a set time. The girls will learn what you want them to do. If you can, I would go out at the beginning of dusk and watch to see what they do. I use a snack to coral them into areas that I want them to go. A small amount of dried mealworms shaken in a container and a kind word - they go wild for it. My girls have become like clock work and they seem easy enough to train. Good luck!