Won’t Go in Coop at Night

[jslater14]

This is our first time having chickens, so bear with us!

We moved our 6 week old chickens to the run/coop on Thursday. We have a large coop with a roost inside and then an fully enclosed run. Every night since we moved them out, they huddle in the corner of the run and won’t go in the coop. I’ve had to take my phone and use the flashlight to shine in the coop, and move all 8, one by one, into the coop. I hang out for a bit to make sure they don’t come out and then turn the light off and head inside.

The first 2 nights, 1 went to roost, but since, they only cuddle together in the corner of the coop.

Tonight, we placed a night light in the coop before dusk, hoping they’d go in. They were still all cuddled up on the corner of the run when I went out to check. I put them all in and turned off the light.

How do I get them to go in and to roost as well?

 

[Lor]

Been doing that myself here.
Some people put them in the coop for a few days without letting them out into the run so they learn where home is. Maybe you can put them inside a little earlier...before it gets dark to help them along. That's what I've been doing.
It's all new to them. It takes some time. Same with roosting.

 

[Lor]

I also shoo mine into a pet carrier to carry up more than one at a time.
I have to make 2 trips now as 7 don't fit in it but it's better than 7 trips.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any photos of the coop?

Possible problems in situations like this:
- it's too dark/poorly ventilated inside, so the chickens don't want to go in
- there's a ramp, and the chickens either haven't been trained to use it, or find it difficult to use

Chicks often don't know to roost until someone shows them, so since you don't have adult chickens to teach them, you'll need to put them on the roost to show them that's where to sleep.

 

[Kidwantschickens]

Not helpful now, but for future readers/those with new chicks. I give mine a thick sturdy branch at 1 week old, just laying on the ground. The get used to playing on it/jumping it, sitting on it. When they're 2-3 weeks I raise it up 4-6" with one end under the light.

The current batch are now 5 weeks old and half of them sleep on the roost. The other half won't fit. Next week when they go to the actual coop (hopefully it's completed) they will hopefully just go roost. I plan to lock them in for a few days.

This is how I started my other chickens and it has worked well.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I just put the little darlings on the roost. But I have 3 who still don't roost, and I let them do whatever they're comfortable doing.

My first chickens needed to be put in the coop every night for a while. Now, new chickens just follow the older birds in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How do I get them to go in and to roost as well?

What you describe sounds perfectly normal to me. I typically have a brood of around 20. When I move them from the brooder to my grow-out coop they practically never go into the coop at night to start with. I usually leave them in my coop section only for a week or so before I let them in the run but it doesn't seem to help, they still don't go in. My grow-out coop is elevated, I think that makes a difference. I don't have this problem with a ground level coop.

Every night as it is getting dark they settle under the door. If it is kind of dark they are usually not that hard to catch. I just toss them in the coop and lock them in. Each brood is different. Often a few start going in on their own around dark after a couple of days but it takes about a week for all of them to do that. I've had a couple of broods take as long as three weeks before the last couple decided to go in. One time I was down there about bedtime doing something else the first evening after I'd first put them in. When they saw me coming they slowly started going in, I didn't even need to get that close to them. They went in every night after that on their own. Just another example of chicken TV being better than anything on cable, antenna, or satellite. I tried that the next several broods but it never worked again. As I said, each brood is different.

My brooder raised chicks tend to start roosting around 10 to 12 weeks of age. I had one brood start as early as 5 weeks, a couple go longer, but 10 to 12 weeks old is a typical average as long as no adults are around. If they are in the main coop with the adults or broody raised that schedule is thrown way off. The configuration of my coop and roosts may have an effect on that timing. They will go up on the roosts to play during the day so they can get there, they just don't want to sleep there at night.

As long as they are somewhere predator safe and not sleeping in my nests I don't care where they sleep. They know more about being chickens than I ever will so I leave things like that up to them.

 

[3KillerBs]

I followed this advice with my birds and it turned out very well.

 

[Saveria]

Maybe having a ladder of roosts, or having many levels of roosts so it is easy for them to get up. The lowest can be 6-12in off the ground in my experience. I know that my young ones preferred to be on a lower rung till they got older either way, but as long as they are safe it should be fine.

We had our younger girls roosting in our enclosed run for a season. Once winter came we gave them a gentle nudge, and then they started roosting in the coop with everyone else.

I can almost guarantee you won't be needing to do this for their entire lives. Birds are really trainable, just like dogs or cats.

 

[jslater14]

Any photos of the coop?

Possible problems in situations like this:
- it's too dark/poorly ventilated inside, so the chickens don't want to go in
- there's a ramp, and the chickens either haven't been trained to use it, or find it difficult to use

Chicks often don't know to roost until someone shows them, so since you don't have adult chickens to teach them, you'll need to put them on the roost to show them that's where to sleep.

Here's an inside/outside pic of the coop!