Training to go in at night?

[JuneBug333]

Hi I have the same coop but we made some modifications. We plan on turning the whole thing into a coop.
We currently have nine 11 week olds and we only had to place them in their "bedroom" the first night.
We ran an extension cord out there with their hot plate brooder for a while so I think that helped. We used sand in there from day one. We took out the laying nest walls and put in another roost perch. We also put a half log under their ladder so it wasn't so steep.
We did a lot of waterproofing even tho their run is covered. We have the other half side pretty covered right now too.
I think our run is about your size or bigger and covered. We let them out in there every day and only treat the coop/run like a coop/hangout spot.
We r just getting started tho, I plan on giving them way more space this spring.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Hi I have the same coop but we made some modifications. We plan on turning the whole thing into a coop.
We currently have nine 11 week olds and we only had to place them in their "bedroom" the first night.
We ran an extension cord out there with their hot plate brooder for a while so I think that helped. We used sand in there from day one. We took out the laying nest walls and put in another roost perch. We also put a half log under their ladder so it wasn't so steep.
We did a lot of waterproofing even tho their run is covered. We have the other half side pretty covered right now too.
I think our run is about your size or bigger and covered. We let them out in there every day and only treat the coop/run like a coop/hangout spot.
We r just getting started tho, I plan on giving them way more space this spring.

WHere will they nest when they need to? I waterproofed my coop as well. Do you have any pics? There is a whole thread on mods for this coop. Maybe post there if you haven’t already. I can find the thread in a bit.

Here it is: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...cation-design-thoughts.1163397/#post-18298267

 

[JuneBug333]

We have nesting boxes built but r keeping them in our shed for now bc we don't wanna introduce them to the girls until they're a bit older. Don't really want them sleeping and pooping in an just yet, ya know?
I dont have any good pics on my phone atm. Maybe a half good pic of the half log we used. In the background u can see the baby perch I made for them with a beer bottle box and cardboard tube, they loooved it when they were tiny.
Definitely gonna check out that thread thank you <3

 

[Cryss]

We have nesting boxes built but r keeping them in our shed for now bc we don't wanna introduce them to the girls until they're a bit older. Don't really want them sleeping and pooping in an just yet, ya know?
I dont have any good pics on my phone atm. Maybe a half good pic of the half log we used. In the background u can see the baby perch I made for them with a beer bottle box and cardboard tube, they loooved it when they were tiny.
Definitely gonna check out that thread thank you <3

I love that idea of raising the ladder. I'll try that in a couple days. I've decided to take advice I've been given a few times here. I've unblocked the nesting area. I will put food and water in ther in the morning snd remove them at night. I will do this for at least 2 days. I'm sure I'll have to clean out the wet chips every day where the water will be sitting. I'm seeing most responses seem to shpw that sloghtly older chicks learn to go to bed quickly. Mine are youngee than the ones mentioned here. Yes, the chips are quite deep right now. I figured if I'm going to lock them in I won't be able to sift chips daily and they would need more litter. I have an old shelf frame that I may put inside that they may like as a roost till they come out. Then I can get hubby to build new roosts. They seem to prefer snuggling down into the chips at this point. Maybe that has to do with their age a bit?

 

[IslaBean]

They'll eventually figure it out on their own. Are they old enough to be roosting yet, or are they still sleeping on the floor?

 

[rosemarythyme]

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.

I understand how that goes, I had to alter my prefab coop as well. I think if you just work on what you can for now it'll make a difference, and starting with the roosts will hopefully help and let you hold out until spring (when the chickens will be bigger and need the space).

Doing alterations to my coop cost me about $2. But I reused a lot of materials and salvaged other stuff from my yard to make the fixes.

As far as direction of your winds, it really depends on your area. On windy days look outside to gauge which way the wind is coming from - in most areas there's a prevailing direction that winds/storms come from. For me, it's always coming from south, so I only have 1 solid wall on my coop and that faces south.

 

[Cryss]

They'll eventually figure it out on their own. Are they old enough to be roosting yet, or are they still sleeping on the floor?

I don't know what age they should begin to roost. They are now about 8 weeks old and yes they are sleeping on the floor.

 

[imnukensc]

If they had a roost they'd be roosting. They don't, so they can't.

 

[Cryss]

If they had a roost they'd be roosting. They don't, so they can't.

I won't be able to get to building h

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're

not really clear. The gals were really interested in my cell phone!)

 

[Hope Hughes]

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. ​