Training to go in at night?

[Soon2BChixMom]

Hey sometimes you gotta use what you have laying around. That should work out fine until you can build new ones. Im glad the site has helped you! It helps us all... i have had chickens for about 4 years now and in still learning lots of stuff
I have 40 acres(of woods) so we use the tree limbs for our roost if you have sturdy ones it' a cheep and natural way to build them. They love them and I do too. ​

How do you attach tree limbs in a coop? I have plenty around our property.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I won't be able to get to building hView attachment 1199438 igher roosts till possibly Monday. I've put this old shelf frame in the middle of the hen house for now. They seem to like it. They will be confined till Saturday or Sunday. I'm so thankful for this site. I'm learning so much. I read everything I could on tbe web so I could be ready when my gals arrived. I bought the coop, bought the pine shavings, bought the correct feed, and spent 6-7 weeks (well I'm pushing 67, it takes me longer) putting together various wires as a fortress of a run for their safety. But, until you have them you just don't know what you dont know. Thank you everyone for all your advice and good wishes.
(Side view from the cleanout door and end view from the nest door. Sorry they'reView attachment 1199439 not really clear. The gals were really interested in my cell phone!)

Very creative!

 

[Hope Hughes]

How do you attach tree limbs in a coop? I have plenty around our property.

You can do it a few different ways we did it this way:

Or take two small blocks of wood wide enough for the branch to be screwed to it. And then just screw the branch to it. Depending how wide the branch is you may have to put screws in at an angle.

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[Soon2BChixMom]

You can do it a few different ways we did it this way:
View attachment 1199475
Or take two small blocks of wood wide enough for the branch to be screwed to it. And then just screw the branch to it. Depending how wide the branch is you may have to put screws in at an angle.

​

Very nice! Thanks for the photo, it really helps.

 

[Hope Hughes]

Very nice! Thanks for the photo, it really helps.

Your welcome!
You can do it as high as you want.you could even use the branches for the sides but we had left over wood gonna add more roost so the whole thing will be branches soon...
​

 

[Hope Hughes]

Very nice! Thanks for the photo, it really helps.

This is the other way i described. I know its easier with photos

*This is not my photo*
​

 

[rosemarythyme]

The photo immediately above is similar to how I have branches attached as well. I used some scrap wood to make brackets for stability, screwed those into the wall, placed a branch cut to the correct length on top, and then screwed through the wall of the coop into the end of the branch to secure (depending on your set up it may be more practical to screw the branch to the bracket, especially if you want the branch to be removable without damaging the coop. In my case it was more practical to screw it into the coop itself.)

 

[peckpeckpeck]

How are your chicks doing?
Are they seeing themselves to bed at night?
The shelf frame is great! Looks like they'd love that.

 

[Cryss]

How are your chicks doing?
Are they seeing themselves to bed at night?
The shelf frame is great! Looks like they'd love that.

Well, Wednesday night I put that shelf frame inside, cleared out the nesting area, and put their food and water in there. Then I locked them in, removing food and water at night, replacing in the morning. Today is Sunday. I let them out into the small attached run just a few minutes ago. If they go back inside on their own tonight I might consider reopening the blocked underneath area tomorrow. Once I know they are going in consistantly at night I will let them out into the big run. I also put a log underneath the bottom end to reduce the sharp angle in hopes that Repecca won't seem so afraid to walk the ladder. I noticed when I put that frame in that they would roost a bit during the day. Yet every morning I've found them nestled in the back corner on the pine chips. Tomorrow I'm hoping we can build better roosts. Today hubby is cleaning out all the 3 days worth of litter that they were locked in with and replacing with fresh. I usually clean everyday and only fill to an inch or so below those low roosts. Because they were locked in I sort of deep littered it to almost cover those low roosts. I'll know better tomorrow how all of this worked. Stay tuned!

 

[Cryss]

Help! I can't find a post thst someone shared about a modification to the roosts in my type of coop. I want to show the picture to hubby. This is my coop. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...se-chicken-coop-up-to-8-chickens?cm_vc=-10005