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

Buffy Brahma Mama said:

It was not installed high enough for a horizontal opening door, and with the depth of shavings I have in the coop, it is not functioning well.

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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! : )

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ChickensinG said:

I turn on silver lamps in front of the coop and shining I the coop. As they get closer to the coop, I start turning off the furthest lights first and they get into the coop fairly easily. Then last light out and its bedtime. Try it, it'll save your back and arms

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Buffy Brahma Mama said:

Here is one photo
View attachment 2757254

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Buffy Brahma Mama said:

I like that idea and have thought about it! My only issue is that I move the coops and fencing too often and don't think I would keep up with adjusting the electric in addition to all the other tasks. That's definitely a good option though and probably the best bet to keep them away!

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