Using the Coop

[Awaytome]

A beginners question:

When it's time to move the chicks from brooder to pen and coop, do they need to be trained to go into the coop for the night? How is the transition handled? Do you put them into the coop first for the night and let them figure out how to get in and out into the pen? Will they go into the coop on their own when evening comes or do they require some inducement?

 

[fluffycrow]

I usually keep them in the coop for two weeks so they can learn that their home is their coop and get adjusted to the move, and then they're pretty good with returning there at night. If you see someone sleeping outside, pick them up and place them back into the coop. If you have a rooster, he's usually helpful with guiding your hens back to the coop

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Only speaking from my experience last year - I had the babies in the coop with a little hideaway box around three weeks, just using as a big brooder but without heat (was warm nights at that point) and once they were out in the run all day, they returned on their own! I definitely checked the first couple weeks to make sure, but I could hear their sweet night time peeping as they got settled on the roosts as the sun set. It was really neat how they did it on their own. edit to add, they might have been four weeks old actually, they weren't quite fully feathered but getting close

 

[Ridgerunner]

When it's time to move the chicks from brooder to pen and coop, do they need to be trained to go into the coop for the night?

If you want them to sleep in the coop and they were not brooded in the coop, almost always yes. Some of us brood in the coop so it is not usually an issue but for about everyone else, they need to be trained.

How is the transition handled? Do you put them into the coop first for the night and let them figure out how to get in and out into the pen? Will they go into the coop on their own when evening comes or do they require some inducement?

It is handled different ways. Many people house the chicks in the coop only for one or more weeks before they are let into the run. The coop is usually so much bigger than the brooder that they can handle being locked in there without being crowded. Sometimes, not always but sometimes, that is enough to train them to put themselves to bed whenever it gets dark. To me that is the first thing I'd try.

That never works for mine. I think it's because I have an elevated coop I'm trying to train them to sleep in. I don't have this problem with a ground level coop. Until they learn to roost mine like to sleep in a group on the ground. That's what my broody hens do with their chicks until she takes them to the roost. I think it is instinctive for them to hide in a low spot in a group. Mine always try going to sleep in a group under the pop door.

So every night after it is dark enough for them to put themselves to bed, which makes them easier to catch, I lock them in the coop. If I am consistent they get the message. My broods are typically around 20 chicks. Sometimes they all get the message pretty quickly, just a few nights. A couple of times It has taken three weeks before the last few got the message. Most broods totally catch on after a week. Each brood is different.

How much light gets in your coop, hopefully you have a window? If they cannot see inside the coop to go to bed when it starts getting dark they won't. Some people have helped themselves with this by putting a small light in the coop until the chicks are inside. I have a window.

Some people lure them inside the coop, usually with food, before it gets dark and lock them in. That's probably less work than physically putting them in after dark but you won't know when they will go in on their own. It's just how people choose to do it.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I rarely see other people doing my same process but it works for me and in all my years of doing this I've never once had an issue with chicks or chickens going to the coop to roost.

It only takes an extension cord to have power in your coop. SO I have a light (a chandelier, lol,) in the coop. As soon as the coop is lighter than the outdoors, it's guaranteed that if they're not already in there, they will go in. No chicken prefers dark to light at that transition time. It also allows for me to see when I go out to lock it up and I don't have to go out precisely at dusk. If I'm an hour late, that's fine though I do try to go out same time, when sun sets to lock up. Other than the light, making sure they have appropriate roost bars is key. Roost bars in coop should be more attractive (higher,) than any roost bars you have outside of coop.

 

[Awaytome]

Some brilliant ideas born from experience here. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge of chicken psychology! We're putting together coop plans now. I'm trying to imagine the chickens' needs to accommodate them and make my life easier. Windows, a light and highest roost are on the coop list!

 

[Mrs. K]

I like mine outside ASAP. I think the sun is good for them. But while I have them in the garage - I train mine to sleep in a dog crate. I turn off the heat and light at night and put them into the dog crate - that has been insulated just a couple of inches above them. I call it a wooly hen. It acts like a broody hen, and even in cold weather, they stay as warm as bedbugs.

In the morning, I let them out, turn on the heat lamp and out they come. When I take them down to the coop/run, I let them out in the safety zone and get down them at dusk, and they have always returned to the crate if I am patient.

I then put the crate in the coop, for predator protection. In the morning, I take it out to the run. In a few days, I just let them come out on their own, and they head back to the coop and crate on their own.

Mrs K