What time do your chickens put themselves to bed?

[AllynTal]

Mine start heading into the coop about 15 minutes before legal sunset regardless of the weather. By legal sunset, they're all inside and the last few stragglers need help getting on the roosts. (Maybe they don't need help, but it is a routine with us now. I feel like the usher at a movie theater using a flashlight to illuminate each roost so the last few stragglers can jump up.)

Why?
Chickens don't see like we see. Chickens have tetra-chromatic vision, while we have tri-chromatic. That means they see an additional sector of the light spectrum that human eyes can't see. (In English, chickens have four wavelengths they are sensitive to, while we have three. Humans and chickens see red, green and blue, but chickens are also sensitive to ultraviolet light.) Even if there is artificially low light, such as with heavy storm cloud cover, which to our eyes it seems dark out, chickens can see just fine.

They have a disadvantage when the sun goes down, however, and they lose the benefit of that extra light spectrum. The retina in humans and other mammals is made up of rods and cones -- rods to see at night and cones to see color. Chickens have very few cones, and their rods are not very sensitive. Once the sun drops below the horizon, our eyes still have enough light to see and even enough light to still see color for a while during twilight, but chickens are pretty much blind. Before they lose the light and the ability to see, they want to be in a safe place, which is why most times chickens head in around legal sunset, which is a minute or two different each day.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Mine start heading into the coop about 15 minutes before legal sunset regardless of the weather. By legal sunset, they're all inside and the last few stragglers need help getting on the roosts. (Maybe they don't need help, but it is a routine with us now. I feel like the usher at a movie theater using a flashlight to illuminate each roost so the last few stragglers can jump up.)

Why?
Chickens don't see like we see. Chickens have tetra-chromatic vision, while we have tri-chromatic. That means they see an additional sector of the light spectrum that human eyes can't see. (In English, chickens have four wavelengths they are sensitive to, while we have three. Humans and chickens see red, green and blue, but chickens are also sensitive to ultraviolet light.) Even if there is artificially low light, such as with heavy storm cloud cover, which to our eyes it seems dark out, chickens can see just fine.

They have a disadvantage when the sun goes down, however, and they lose the benefit of that extra light spectrum. The retina in humans and other mammals is made up of rods and cones -- rods to see at night and cones to see color. Chickens have very few cones, and their rods are not very sensitive. Once the sun drops below the horizon, our eyes still have enough light to see and even enough light to still see color for a while during twilight, but chickens are pretty much blind. Before they lose the light and the ability to see, they want to be in a safe place, which is why most times chickens head in around legal sunset.

I use a nightlight in my coop, that I shut off when I lockup the coop. It lets them see to get a bedtime feed and water as I keep both in coop, and to see to hop up onto the roosts. GC

 

[AllynTal]

I use a nightlight in my coop, that I shut off when I lockup the coop. It lets them see to get a bedtime feed and water as I keep both in coop, and to see to hop up onto the roosts. GC

That works and I know a lot of people that do that. Mine get the last peck and water before they go in. I stopped using a nightlight because of the squabbles it caused. Not only is the roost choice very dependent on pecking order, but apparently who roosts next to whom is also part of the hierarchy. With the nightlight on, the stragglers upset the order by trying to roost next to hens that already had their place staked out for the night. By illuminating the empty space on the roost only long enough for the stragglers to hop up and then shutting off the light, there are no squabbles. It's more a convenience for me than it is for the chickens. Having 30+ hens making a kerfuffle is something I try to avoid in what should be/could be a serene part of the day.

 

[GC-Raptor]

That works and I know a lot of people that do that. Mine get the last peck and water before they go in. I stopped using a nightlight because of the squabbles it caused. Not only is the roost choice very dependent on pecking order, but apparently who roosts next to whom is also part of the hierarchy. With the nightlight on, the stragglers upset the order by trying to roost next to hens that already had their place staked out for the night. By illuminating the empty space on the roost only long enough for the stragglers to hop up and then shutting off the light, there are no squabbles. It's more a convenience for me than it is for the chickens. Having 30+ hens making a kerfuffle is something I try to avoid in what should be/could be a serene part of the day.

Yes, I noticed the pecking with the nightlight on 2 nights in a row when I watched them through the window after lockup. Nightlight off when all are on the roosts, sense. GC

 

[djunafarms]

Mine head in around 15 to 20 minutes before sunset. Only have 3 right now, and the bedtime squabble is fun to watch. The smart one goes in first and gets in her "safe place" on the roost right up against the wall. The other two have a mighty fuss for about 10 minutes over who gets to roost right next to the smart one, complete with the occasional burst of feathers out the coop door.

 

[Abriana]

My chickens go to bed as soon as the sun has slipped behind the mountains and everything is a hazy pink/orange and the clouds look like cotton candy wisps. Love the country!

 

[Abriana]

Mine often hang around outside after sunset - maybe they hope that I somehow forget them there and they can have "wild junglefowl night" in their favorite hiding place under the deck. Too dangerous, of course. I have trained them with the help of treats to go into the coop when I come for my evening round and make a hissing noise. I usually throw a bit of food into the coop at the same time. Sometimes they also go inside on their own before I get to them, but I wouldn't rely on that.

To get them to realize that the coop is their home, keep them locked inside for three days.

 

[Petra Pancake]

To get them to realize that the coop is their home, keep them locked inside for three days.

Thanks, but they should know by now. They've had that coop for almost a year and in the beginning they all were locked up in it for a week. Also , if I "tell" them they go inside quickly. They just like sitting in the hollow space under the deck, probably because it's much bigger than their coop. Or maybe they're just "cave chickens"...

 

[GC-Raptor]

Thanks, but they should know by now. They've had that coop for almost a year and in the beginning they all were locked up in it for a week. Also , if I "tell" them they go inside quickly. They just like sitting in the hollow space under the deck, probably because it's much bigger than their coop. Or maybe they're just "cave chickens"...

Cave chickens, if I only had a cave, I wouldn't have had to build a coop, or a house. GC

 

[beaner1219]

My chicks are 6wks old. They sometimes gather in their roosting area inside in the middle of the day. This is when it's cloudy or looks like bad weather. Is this normal?