Why won’t my chicks go back into the coop at night?

[BiddyBiddy]

I have 18 8-week old chicks of various breeds (cochins, silkies, orpingtons, olive eggers) They were inside my home in their brooder in a spare room up until 2 weeks ago. I partitioned and converted a 12x12 shed into their new home with a 50’x50’ fenced run covered in aviary netting to protect them from hawks. Honestly it’s a chicken McMansion. But there’s a problem... I kept them in the shed for a full week before letting them out into the run. The first day I only let them out for a few hours before sunset. I wasn’t suprised when they didn’t quite understand they were supposed to climb the ramp to get back into their super posh home. I had to round them up and catch them one by one and place them by hand back through the coop door. Thank God the neighbors can’t see that corner of my yard! We’re now on day 5 of this nightly ridiculousness. When are they going to get with the program?!? The other thing is, when they’re all back in the McMansion, they all crowd into a corner piled on top of each other. Almost like they’re terrified of something. They never did this before they started going outside. It’s not cold here, 90’s in the day and 75-80’ish at night. I even have a fan in there for ventilation and so it’s not too stuffy after being so hot during the day. So people, what gives?!? What am I doing wrong? Any ideas? Help?

 

[imnukensc]

They just don't know that's "home" yet. Keep putting them in the coop at night. They'll get the hang of it in another week or so.

 

[djhowe69]

That's a beautiful coop, looks like you thought of everything.
Maybe you could try putting them away at night. Place them on their roost, make sure it's nice and dark, shut the door to the chicken run when you leave them. I can remember once I was cleaning out the dirty hay and chicken crap from my coop and I put all the birds out in the run for an hour and a half with the hatch closed. When I was finished I opened the hatch and put the ramps down and left. Hours later that night my wife and I went for a walk and noticed all the chickens were huddled outside in one corner of the run. It took me two days to get them back inside and the only way I did that was crawling into the run and picking them up and delivering them to the coop I also had to shut the hatch to the run because they kept trying to return to the corner of the run again.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Just hang in there. Keep putting them in and they will catch on.

Are you waiting til full dark before trying to get them in?

My young birds tend to stay out past curfew.
You can try training them to come to you when you rattle a plastic container with a bit of scratch in it. When they come in when called give them just a very small amount. Before you know it they will stampede to you whenever you have that dish.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under BiddyBiddy Welcome!

I agree with all the great advice you have already received; persevere, they will get the hang of it.

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

Including your general location on your profile will assist others. Location, climate, season etc can be important factors when members are responding to any questions you may have and vice versa.

You might want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Welcome!

I have nothing to add to the great advice already recieved... so I'll just say, Thanks for joining us here at Backyard Chickens.

 

[BiddyBiddy]

Just hang in there. Keep putting them in and they will catch on.

Are you waiting til full dark before trying to get them in?

My young birds tend to stay out past curfew.
You can try training them to come to you when you rattle a plastic container with a bit of scratch in it. When they come in when called give them just a very small amount. Before you know it they will stampede to you whenever you have that dish.

It wasn’t quite full dark. It’s hard enough to chase them around the yard at dusk without tripping over rocks or tree stumps. It would be really quite embarrassing to have someone witness the whole fiasco. But I’ll wait till its darker tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

Mine took a few days to figure it out, especially since that was the third different location they had been sleeping by the time I finished the coop. Once they went in, they didn't go into the roost. I had to put them up there, but they would stay. I think it's helps when it's darker because they can't really see so they stay put. Anyway, after two days of going inside AND onto the roost on their own, today they all decided to gather up in a meeting box instead. So as others have said, persevere.

Now if I could teach my ducks to go to bed...

 

[BiddyBiddy]

G’Day from down under BiddyBiddy Welcome!

I agree with all the great advice you have already received; persevere, they will get the hang of it.

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

Including your general location on your profile will assist others. Location, climate, season etc can be important factors when members are responding to any questions you may have and vice versa.

You might want to also Find Your State Thread and pop in and say hello.

BYC has Topic of the Week discussions which I have found to be a great resource, informative and sometimes entertaining; so definitely worth checking out.

If you would like to share Pictures and Stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

Thank you for the warm welcome! Looking forward to all the wisdom from all you experienced BYC’ers. This novice is going to need it!

 

[sawilliams]

Off the top of my head. Your coop looks nice, but I'm not seeing much for ventilation or light. Chickens dont like entering dark places period. So getting a window or even a lift in there til just after dark will be a huge help... and while you said you have a fan ventilation is still very important and more is always better then less. Otherwise just lots of time.