You're going to laugh at this one...

[OccamsTazer]

So this is our first season raising chickens. Our birds are about 3 months old, doing great, etc, except for their sleeping preferences. We have an old shed about 100 feet from the house that we fixed up to be a chicken coop (complete with several heights of roost, nests, bedding), but they Will. Not. Sleep. There.
We raised them in the house at first, then moved 'em outside.
They sleep by the front door! We do not have a raised porch, they are just sleeping in the grass, wedged right up by the house.
I have tried only feeding them in the coop. They eat there, then come back to the house. I have tried locking them in the coop for the better part of a week to make it sink in that coop-is-home. They came back to the front door the first night they were released.
Confining them all the time isn't an option...any suggestions? Our patio is like a chicken poop mine field!

 

[saddina]

Either carry them back each night untill it stick, or be prepared that eventually something will find your sleeping birds one night.

 

[Cetawin]

Just be consistent...take them back, put them in, lock em up and let them out in the morning. Do it each night until the move their butts there themselves. That is the only way to fix the problem.

 

[OccamsTazer]

I do worry about something getting them in their current location. Fortunately, the place they choose to sleep is right by the front door and directly under a floor-length window, so the dogs keep an eye on them.
We moved them out to the coop every night for almost a week, and it didn't stick. I will have to figure out something soon, because I have a batch of 12 chicks that will be going outside next month. I don't mind catching my five adult birds every night, but 17 would be a bit nuts...

 

[SproutGirl]

Wow. I'd say try locking them in for another week. I'm surprised that it didn't work the first time. That solution has solved all of my chicken behavior problems.

Is there anyway you can make the area around the door uncomfortable to them temporarily?

Good luck!

 

[MoTownChickie]

Just curious - where do you live?

Maybe you could put some potted cacti in the area where they sleep after you try putting them in the pen for a week or so.

 

[MoTownChickie]

Oh, I'd also love to see pics of the doorway chickens.

I just hope you can get them used to the coop before something does get to them.

That would be terrible.

 

[OccamsTazer]

I don't have a pic of them sleeping the wrong place, but here's my house.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CbR0-VkEfVU/SLIew3pwdyI/AAAAAAAAAFY/h64uGyOd128/s1600-h/newhouse
They sleep in the middle section wedged under the eaves.
I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, so I don't think catus would last too well...but I do have about an acre of bamboo...that sounds pretty uncomfortable. I could pile prickly cut bamboo in their spot.

 

[SproutGirl]

Bamboo sounds cozy. Or at least fun to scratch in.

How about some trash cans or upside down lawn chairs? It won't be pretty, but there won't be any sleeping space.

 

[wishin4chicken]

I think having a little treat waiting for them when they're put to bed at night will help, too. ) Before long they'll be beating you to the coop when the time comes.

Michele.