Two questions regarding my hens?

[Pluto]

These are probably silly beginner questions but I have a couple anyway.

My hens don't want to use their coop. They are brand new, we stuck them in their little coop last night and they stayed in it. Tonight they won't go in and are huddled underneath it. The two smaller hens have jammed their heads under the largest hen, which is "sitting" on them? Is this normal? Should I place them in their coop (they are very docile/easy to handle)?

The second question, probably the most asked question, when are they going to lay? The previous owner said they stopped laying in October, and they have been without heat/lights since. Do I have to wait until we actually have 14 hours of daylight before they start to lay again (April?)?

 

[Chicken Woman]

You should pick them up and put them in the coop. Some people lock them in the coop a couple of days so they know where home is.

After being moved they would take awhile to lay anyway so just make sure they are getting lots of protien and calcium and they will lay when they are ready.

 

[antiquebuff]

I had to put mine in the coop every night for about 5 days and then they started going on their own. Laying should begin soon depending on what kind of chickens you have. Good Luck!

 

[Pluto]

OK, I trekked out through the rain and the mud and put them in their coop. They were a bit indignant at first, but stay put once placed in the coop. We think they are “easter eggers”, and are 8-10 months old.

 

[Mahonri]

Keep them in the coop for a week.

They'll go back in at night after that.

 

[Akane]

Also can help to turn a light on in the coop in the evening. You can use a timer if your not out there. They'll be attracted to the light and more likely to go inside and get on their roosts so all you have to do is close the door. It's best to lock them up every night. They are much much safer locked in a coop than only relying on the run fencing to keep predators out.

 

[Pluto]

We are in the City, so I'm hoping predators won't be too big of an issue. We do have opossums, raccoons, and raptors. The run is a covered cyclone fence dog kennel, so I'm not real concerned about raptors right now. I'm hoping the dogs in the yards on either side of us, and our dogs (but they are inside at night) will be enough to deter raccoons. I have actually never seen raccoons in our neighborhood, but a friend of mine lost her urban chickens a couple of years ago to a raccoon

 

[Akane]

Do you have any buried fencing or wire skirting? I lost a bunch of guinea pigs to a stray dog once because we had them in an outside pen with no buried wire. We didn't leave them out all the time and the pen was inside a fenced yard. That day though someone left the gate to they yard open after mowing and in the 15mins we were inside a large dog dug a huge hole in the yard under the fence and killed them. You definitely have stray dogs in town. All it takes is one escape artist to get past your fence or someone to make a mistake and you could lose them all. That's not even considering if a raccoon happens to find them. It's worth the 2-5mins it takes before bed every night to walk out and shut a door.

 

[jacyjones]

Like has been said you need to shut them in the coop so they can't go in their run for several days and they will then feel safe there and go in when the light starts to drop.

 

[warhorse]

Quote:
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