3 month old hens just inserted into run attached to a coup a week ago. The chickens don’t go into the coup at night. When left alone they (9 of them) just huddle together. I stuff them into the coup at night and an auto door opens to let them out. Rained yesterday and I kept them in coup all day. Put food and water in the coup but the chickens don’t go into coup to drink or eat. I’m new to this world and am looking for some advice. Picture of our run and coup are in my introduction
From what I can see of the
coop itself in your introduction picture, it looks like the coop may be quite small. The run is a nice size though.
Any chance of some pictures of the coop itself, including the roosts?
Generally speaking, a few things can make birds reluctant to go to bed at night even after learning what to do.
- A house that is too hot, without enough ventilation.
- A house that is too small, causing them to feel cramped. A young flock will tend to stick together outside of it, older flocks with a defined pecking order will have the lower birds kicked out.
- Roosts inside the coop that are lower than roosts in the run. Chickens like to sleep as high as they physically can get to, for the feeling of safety from being up in a "tree".
If coop size winds up being the issue and you don't wish to expand, reducing the size of the flock should help. The general recommendation is 4 square feet per chicken inside the coop, and 1 foot of roost bar each.
