When do yours go in the coop at night?

[Portia]

good analogy!

 

[cajunlizz]

I NEVER close the pop door .. they have full access to come and go as they please .


Trust me , they will NOT just stay outdoors if its to cold for them .


I even read where chickens play in 3 ft. of snow . COME ON PEOPLE , people have raised chickens for years . I have 2 coops and 3 runs and over 100 head in our flock .

They train themselves .... ALL you have to provide is FEED , WATER , a place to roost , lay and sleep . and a secure , predator free place and your job is done .

My Alpha rooster sgnals the hens when its time to enter the coop . HE IS IN CONTROL .

 

[jmeeter88]

Quote:
No, but this behavior began as soon as I started letting them free range all day. Prior to this they were "homed" for 7 days, and prior to that, they were in the brooder!

 

[HennysMom]

ahhh... you let them "get wild"

the hussy's hee hee!

Hope they learn soon

 

[lowerowe]

anyone help me? i have 4 ladies and they are all unnatural, in a way that they dont want to go to bed in my coop i built them. i have them for three days and everynight i have to go out there after dark and pick them up and place them in the coop myself. everyone is telling me that they are meant to go straight to bed by themselves. they dont! they sit in the corner cuddled up and fall asleep. any help would be great! 1 change i made was two new perches about 30cm above these ones to get them higher than nesting boxes, and i have re done the ramp to flat board and thin runners.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

I have a fairly big barn for the feathered critters. I have a light bulb on a dusk to dawn gizmo in the socket. I have noticed that they will go to the lighted barn and actually wait for it to go on. When I get there I turn on another light (energy savings thingy) and start to put them all to bed. This of course involves gathering the silkies from the corners and chasing the cochin hens into the wire mesh stalls. evey bird that can not are does not fly well is put in, coaxed in are run in the stalls. I do not allow low perching outside the stalls and I lock them up tight until morning. The birds that can fly get up in the rafters and on top of the mesh stall walls. I would suggest a light source. Go to the light, I also have a radio on a oldies tunes station. They can hear as well as see the barn. i have caught a fawn polish or two in the yard after dark. Now that it is getting colder, they tend to roost early. My leghorn and the chochin roo do crow to let the others know it is time for nite nite.

 

[newchickenfarmer]

Quote:
hello well we have many chickens and the one you've got roostin on your motorcycle trailer u need to put him the coop untill he'll do in or she will to by itself or other wise thats were your chicken should roost at nite, if your having trouble gettin them all in it took my husband 3 days to get them to go to their coop on ther own, but it took us catching them and puttin em in the coop, didnt fake long for em to catch on, and here our birds start goin into roost about 6:30 or 7. my big roo he's the last to go in. now we do have heat lights. but they will do to bed if there off or on. but we leave them on threw part of the day and all nite, alittle advise if u have birds that r laying? than the more light the more eggs. from the time they go to bed and when I let em out to free range all day. I have 4-6 eggs and then they'll go back thru the day and lay more. if u wanna talk more I'm newchickenfarmer

 

[CK Chickadilly]

My "lead" rooster is an OE Bantam. When he crows at bedtime they all go (mostly) to where they need to be. Some will try to roost in a different place but they mostly go to where they belong.

I train mine to where I want them to roost. They all have their "special" cages/barn. If they don't get in the right cage, I put them there. It usually only takes a day or so to get them used to where you want them. I also count them to make sure they are all there & if they aren't I go looking.

I had a couple of my SilkCo girls try to roost in the laying boxes, but that is a no no here so I put them in their cage & they haven't done it since. Good girls!

 

[cajunlizz]

I have over 100 head .. 2 coops and 3 attacked ( prediator proof ) runs . they have full access 24/7 to come and go as they please . I can not allow mine to "free range " and just as good, because I would go nuts trying to gather them up . when it starts to get a little dark , BIG RED the rooster ( HEAD MASTER ) makes a weird noise and thats it , they all go in one by one into the coops .

The lay during the day and exist right back into the runs . Roosters control the flock .

 

[ChooksChick]

I have had occasional issues getting mine to roost at dusk, as well, but as soon as I realized it was about seeing their 'beds' with their horrible vision, it's been fixed. They need far more light to maneuver than we do.

I made sure in the small coop that the side windows were open (plywood hinged over hardware cloth) so the roosts were visible against the light. They quit heading for the trees and milling about on the floor.

In the big coop, which is a converted garden shed yet to have windows installed, I installed an inexpensive fluorescent work light on a timer that comes on two hours before current dawn, and goes out half hour after dusk- this way they have the signal to go to bed from the failing light, and they still go in the coop because it's light.

A couple of times they've had the pop door blocked or the run closed (when free-ranging, they go out through the run door) and one always starts the, "quick, go to bed" cry. It's at a specific point in early dusk, and they all hear her and obey- one at a time, in order, they head in. When the door has been closed, the cry gets more and more frantic, and when I've come out to witness this, they come barreling over, like, "Mom, it's bedtime and I can't get in!!!!"

Funny little sqwee-sqwees!