What to do when they STOP going to bed???

[BarefootMom]

Okay I have some pullets that are ages between 12-14 weeks. They have all been going to bed just fine, until tonight?!?! The moon is shining bright and our yard light is right outside their coop. About 40 of them went to bed, but I still have around a dozen or more wandering around the yard...

I went ahead and shut the door, they can still get in if they fly over the run fence and go in the pop door.

But why won't they go to bed? Is it because of the light or the fact that it is 10:30 and is still 80 degrees outside? I can't do anything about the light or the weather, so I guess they will just have to fend for themselves tonight. It bthers me though because I can hear the coyotes howling and the owls a hooting. I hope they are okay tonight. I guess it isn't any different than the ducks being out all night, but still...

 

[emys]

I hope you will eventually close the small door as well? Otherwise you are inviting trouble.

I would coax them in with some scratch if they were mine.

 

[PeppermintHen]

Ha Ha!!!!! I thought my chickens were the only ones that stayed up all night. We live in the city, and my husband says, chickens never stay up at night, they never eat at night, and on and on. We go to see a late movie come back home around 1:00am and they are just foraging away in the moonlight. As if its broad daylight and they don't even look tired. Like I could even tell if they looked tired. If I lived in the country and had coyotes I would worry. I would try to coax them back in the chicken coop. They are my babies I would worry.

 

[tuckertori]

If mine aren't in by 9:00 I coax with what ever "treat" I have on hand...cooked pasta, corn, sunflower seeds...once I get them within a foot or so of the coup, they will jump in within 5-10 minutes. They would be racoon, owl or coyote food for sure if they spent a night "on the town."

 

[BarefootMom]

Quote:
I tried feeding them inside the coop- which didn't work. They can roost in the barn and in the sheds- most of the ones that are out are the brown leghorns and I have heard that they sometimes choose trees over coops...so maybe they are getting to that age? I don't know

I don't think the coyotes will come into the yard with our dog out there, but I do worry about the owls.

Quote:
No we don't close the small door- haven't had any trouble yet- if we ever do I will rethink it all- but they have been out there since they were 4 weeks old, so I am not worried about that. The small door is in the run side.

you can't really see the door in this pic- but it is on the left side of the coop. The run is welded wire with chicken wire clamper on the bottom (up 2 feet) the wire is screwed onto the coop and the barn. We have netting over most of the run.