Will chickens go into coop at night or do I have to move them inside?

[ryan112ryan]

Totally new to this forum and to chickens, doing my research now to get some chickens for eggs after the winter. I am doing this at a community garden down the road, so for me to go to it every day will be hard to do.

-Can I set up water and food for a 2-3 days and let them go in and out of the coop as they please?
-Will they use the coop or do you have to heard them in?
-Will they go into the coop to lay eggs as often?

I have a fenced off area it has 6 foot fencing, I plan to add a roof and a small coop for two chickens.

 

[fordmommy]

First...

from Wisconsin.

Second...your questions. Most chickens will go into their coop at night on their own. That's where they should feel safe.

Putting water out that will last a few days would be okay as long as it's clean. (not getting poop or other stuff in it) I would think. People do that all the time especially if they go away for a few days. Just make sure that they ALWAYS have some.

And the laying. Some people have problems with their chickens not laying in their nesting boxes. I never have had that problem. When the girls were beginning to get close to starting, I would pick them up and put them in the nesting boxes to see them. Some stayed in there for a while and others ran out just as fast as they went in.

I think it all depends on the chicken.

 

[bibliophile birds]

i can't tell from the picture if that fence is buried or not. if you aren't going to lock the chickens up at night, you really will want to make sure that the fencing is super secure. most predators come out at night and can easily dig under a fence that isn't buried at least a few feet.

other than that, leaving them unattended for a few days should be fine. make SURE that you get a padlock for the door though, as human predators can often be worse than animal ones.

 

[xC0000005]

Mine refused to go into the coop. So I put them in every night. After three weeks I went out and they were in on their own. Then they wouldn't roost, so I switched to putting them up on the roost. Tonight (and just tonight) I went out and they are finally perched instead of laying in a pile. Not perfect (they are perching on the ladder instead of the roosts but it's better than laying in a pig pile in the corner). So if they won't go in put them in. They eventually catch on.

 

[wing it]

mine go in by themselfs once it starts to get dark