Help needed. New chickens not going into new coop at night. Airlifting 36 chickens is exhausting!

Borders3 said:

Think maybe a string of the solar fairy lights would be better, as you are only aiming for enough light for them to see to be able to jump up to the perches not have a bright light, some people use this in winter to keep them laying, which is not for me.

Click to expand...

MTR said:

You need to get rid of all but two roosters. Your hens will be bred to death and your going to have constant rooster fighting for dominance. Really not healthy numbers. Of course they are your birds so do what you want but you will regret it later.
If this is your first birds in this coop you leave them penned up for a few days.
I also leave a light on in the coop until after dark. It helps draw them in.
Did I mention your rooster number is WAY out of whack (sorry I feel bad for your poor hens and more so as they age)

Click to expand...

Buffy Brahma Mama said:

Wondering if anyone out there might be able to assist.

I'm an organic farmer with a new beautiful flock of 36 pet chickens - an equal number of hens and roos.

I'm having an issue with the flock entering the coop at night - a beautiful coop with plenty of room, food, water and roost space.

The coop is built on a trailer and there is space below the coop, as well as space below the trailer that chickens can hide from predators during the day. I noticed they also use this space to hide from roos that want to mate, and roos who are a bit aggressive toward other roos.

We are going on 2 weeks now and I'm still needing to airlift them into the coop at night, as instead of going in the doors or up the ramps, they decide to roost underneath the coop on the trailer. It seems nice and dark and protected there, however, not from raccoons and other predators, when the sun goes down.

It's getting to be exhausting.

I heard that you should keep them confined in the coop for a while, so that they learn to go in at night, however, I am not allowed to keep them confined, unless there is extreme weather.

I've tried food and treats and they come out from the trailer for a bit, but then if I don't grab them, they go back under when it starts getting dark.

I've never had this issue before with a flock of hens. Could the roos be keeping them under?

The other thing I should mention, is that they got outside permanently to their new coop very late in the game - almost at the adult stage.

Advice needed on how to resolve this, to get some of my time back, and maintain my sanity! : )

Click to expand...

Erineh said:

Did they used to roost there and recently stopped? If they won’t go back in the coop it likely means they don’t think the coop is safe to sleep in. Is there a predator lurking nearby? I would secure the coop completely (before putting them in there yourself at dusk.) You don’t have many other options than to put them in the coop yourself, until they trust it, if that’s where you want them to roost. They can likely hear it, and possibly see the threat. I would set a trap and see what happens…

Click to expand...

LaFleche said:

Another thing that might keep them from accepting the coop: red poultry mites!

Did you treat the entire coop including nest boxes and roosts to prevent an infestation?
It is the time of the year and poultry mites can appear unnoticed out of nowhere (one wild bird entering the coop suffices) and three days later you'll have an explosion of their population.

Click to expand...

Borders3 said:

I've just had another look at the pictures of your coop and I notice you have louvres on one side high up how about putting some on the opposite side then you would have blow straight through to take the heat out or even just hardware cloth on one or both of them. Depends on the aesthetics and how important it is to you.

Click to expand...