Help, chicks won't go into coop at night

We attached the run/tractor yesterday and let them out for the first time. Last night, they wouldn't got into the coop at dark. DH finally climbed into the run and put them in the coop. They stayed in. Tonight, I tried it, but everytime I put one in, he/she would be out before I could get another one. So I gave up. Any suggestions on how I can get them to go in? I'm afraid to let them out because of critters (racoons, dogs, foxes) that come into the yard at night and the run isn't really critter proof.

You just have to do it for a couple of nights, and they will get the idea. It's rather frustrating at first, but they WILL get the idea...
Just make sure it's bedtime.. they will let you know. :)

Darling lil set up!

What she said. Once you establish a pattern they should be good to go. hard to herd chickens, yes. But they'll get it fairly quickly. Good luck!!

Becky is there a light in the coop? If not at least hook up a temporary light for early evening and when it starts getting dusk, they will go for the lit up area. Once inside you can close the door and turn out the lite at will. Chickens don't like the dark, if there is no light in the coop then it's probably darker than out doors and thus they want to stay out. Haystack

good one...

Haystack i swear you are reading my mind hehehehehe

Beclu the light haystack spoke of is the answer i do the same when it's time for mine to no longer have a light.
I use a cheap 25 watt bulb i turn it on in the roost area right before dark and mine go to roost soon as its dark i turn it off.
Works like a charm every time and after maybe a week you leave it off and they will go to the roost without it. {:~)

I toss a handful of corn chops into the coops to lure mine in. Often now they are in already and on the roosts, but it taught them at first.

Well, DH put them in again last night. They were huddled in the corner of the run that gets light from a light on the corner of the house. I did have a flashlight in the coop so they could see where they are going. I will ask about something more permanent. We have a fan running off an extension cord, maybe we can put a light on that too. We will need a lamp in the winter for heat (the few times it gets real cold), anyway. I don't know much about electricitiy. DH is an electrical engineer... hehe. I need to get some cracked corn too for treats.

Thanks y'all for all the info and the quick replies. This forum has the best people!

Haystack was reading my mind too, because I was going to say that...LOL
We had that experience with youngsters twice. Only took a couple of nights of putting a small flash light in the coop and they all went in after that.

LOL Kassy great minds think alike {;~)

The light worked like a charm tonight. DS turned on the light at 8:30 and I checked on them at 9:15. They were all on the roost and looked at me like "that light sure is keeping us awake." I turned it out and there was contented peeping from all.
DH installed an electrical box with 2 outlets and a light in the coop this afternoon. It is plugged into the same extension cord that the fan was plugged into. Now the fan is in one of the outlets. The light has a dimmer switch and will take 600W, so it will work great for a heat lamp this winter. Needless to say, I made a special dinner tonight.

Fantastic! Wow, that is great.
Can you send him over so I can have power to my coops? :)

The idea of the light is good to know.. I'm getting very tired of chasing 32 chickens around the yard at dark to put them in the coop. They refuse to roost in there now & want to go back to the garage where they spent 10 nights.Tomorrow I will put a light in the coop. :) hopefully this works. I can't go on "vacation" till the chickens figure out how to put themselves to bed so all my mom has to do is close the little door & lock it.

greykyttyn - I used a 60 watt bulb and it makes the coop very bright since it is only 4x4 inside. The only place they could see the light was through the chicken door, so they must have trooped right in. I think the trick is like Haystack said. Turn it on before full dark, so its the lightest place around. I'll give an update tonight.

Thanks so much for all the good advice. This is the greatest place for chicken novices like myself.

Glad it worked out Beclu i know the light always works for mine and theres no chaseing chickens around trying to get them in the coop LOL

My coop is 90% hardware wire. But i am going to try the light trick,.... if it stops pouring down rain we will that is.

This message was edited Jun 24, 2009 7:44 PM

Honest, the light trick works great.
We had chicks that had to walk up a ramp to get into the safe inclosed coop. (temporary housing until they get big enough to put in with the older ones).
The first couple of nights I would have to take a flashlight out and put it in the part where we wanted them to go up into to roost.
The second night when shortly after I put the light in there, one of them went up and started talking to the other ones. By the time is was dark out, they were all up there.
We only had to use the light trick for a few days and then they got the idea as to where to go at night. :)

They went into the light again. Such good chickies.
Kassy - they do have to go up a ramp to get into the coop. The only one that doesn't like it is the biggest roo, Pern. He's always the last out in the morning and takes his time, putting his feet down carefully. Really funny to watch as the others come running down. They run over each other they are so happy to be out. Pern is much more reluctant. And he was the first one to use the roost in the brooder.

Becky I am so glad to hear of your success. Your tractor is very well done and fun to look at Sounds to me like you have a smart ole roo. You sound like your having fun with your flock. Great success to you. Hay

Thanks Haystack. I am having fun. They are so neat to watch. But lately its been too hot for Chick TV.

Glad to hear they are learning where to go at night Beclu :)

Well the little buggers didn't go in tonight. They were huddled together in the farthest corner of the run from the door. Of course, all the outside and inside lights were on on that side of the house. But even when I turned all the lights out except the coop light, they didn't budge. DH had to put them in the coop while I closed and opened the chick door. There's always tomorrow night...

Tried the light tonight.. all went in except the Buff Orpingtons... they all huddled in a group in front of the garage door btwn a barrel & the door in a space 5 inches wide & 12 inches long. only problem i can see is we have a vapor light that is on a pole right in front of the garage door. but the coop was brighter than that & everyone else was all perched happily in the coop. The others did go to bed a lot easier, if it works I'd even set a light on a timer for them & a switch permanently so mom can just turn it off after closing the chick door. Anything to get them to go in without hunting them down or chasing them everywhere.

greykyttyn - Isn't it amazing how they can pile up together in small spaces. Where they were huddled tonight was a space I would think barely big enough for 1 bird and there were 5 there. Good luck with your light.

I know.. mom walked up & goes.."o.. well most of them are in there are only a couple birds there" I start plucking babies out of the crevice & start counting.. 1....5....6,7,8,9....13...15. they were standing ON each other. They are the craziest chickens I've ever seen. It was still 95 at dark here tonight, you'd think they'd be so hot they wouldn't want to huddle like that. They squawk & squawk till i pick them up & as soon as I tuck 6 of them under my arm to go to the hen house they all shut up & start cooing. *shakes head* i just don't know what to do with them.

beclu, I'm thinking the outside light being on was the problem. I seem to remember that with ours too.
We had to make sure the outside light was not on.

Once they learn where they should be roosting each night, they will go there. I would be surprised if they didn't. We have 2 coops, and when we let them all our to run for a while, each one goes back to their own coop. They have never roamed into the other one.

Except for our leghorns who loved to roost in the tree. And in the winter too yet.

I've never had problems till these little Buff Orpingtion's. The others I took them over, 4 nights in a row.. started at teh bottom of the ramp, gently hopped them up the ramp on thier own little feet & said see.. door go into here to sleep.. after 4 nights by dusk they were all in bed. These.. i think they just like to cause problems. The neighbor told me if I'd put them in the coop when it was totally dark they'd always go back there.. but the problem is the vapor light.. its never totally dark.

The only ones we had problems with were the leghorns. They wouldn't stay out of the tree.

Every night my boyfriend would go out and do head count, and in the winter it got to be a song, "And 4 leghorns in a boxelder tree".

I don't know what to tell you. I think they will eventually learn where they belong at night. I'm thinking we have buffs too, not sure. Our order got way to mixed up.

Grey - how old are the buff orpingtons? I would really like to have seen a pic of that pile of birdies...

Kassy - I'll make sure the lights are out tonight. We weren't home when it got dark last night. I turned the coop light on at 7 when we left and didn't think to look for other lights. DS probably turned his outside lights on when he went to dinner. I'll remind him to leave them off tonight. He has a nice flashlight in his truck he can use LOL.

Here's Link and Matilda dust bathing yesterday.

My chickens are afraid of my lawn mower. WHenever I crank it up and get near their exercise pen they all run into the coop and won't come out till I'm far away.

So - mow the lawn at dusk?

No, just crank it up or find some other loud noise that scares them to run into their coop. Maybe my chickens are just "chicken". :) They also run into the coop when I drive by in my RTV. They hate loud noises. They really run in there when my son and husband taget shoot. I told them they can't do that any more.

Ours are penned in usually when we mow lawn. But there not afraid of it. They wait for me to throw fresh cut grass into them. They love it.

And I have to keep them penned when I am weeding my flower beds, or they try to help me, so they think. They watch for me to bring them bugs or worms.

Mine have a healthy fear of the lawn mower but they don't go far. If I get off of it for any reason they like to perch on the steering wheel & seat. I did find out last night that they don't have a healthy fear of fire. They were getting too close to the fire eating the bugs that were drawn to it or being forced out of the wood pile not sure which.

I'll try for a pic of the buffs snuggling in that corner. Not sure how well it will take but I'll try if its not raining at bedtime tonight. I'm sure they will be either there or btwn the bucket & the wall. They are... 1.5 months roughly.. i think. I think i got them on the 12th of May. It was bad month with funerals & stuff so its hard to remember exactly.

No bright lights on in and out of the house, so they went in to the lighted coop last night. WhooHoo!

mom refuses to turn off the vapor light.. i'm guessing that is why the buffs don't go in. I'm going to work on her.. but idk.

15 buffs were once again out at 9:15 last night. The others go right in & look at me like "turn the lite off already we are trying to sleep!" The buffs don't even like to come out the chicken door in the morning. One or two have to have you either get them out or open the large door for them. Its like they can't find it! I hate to say it but I'm thinking these aren't very smart birds. Last night they walked around & around the ramp, never looked at the door area.. just wandered back & forth chirping. If i made steps with bricks would that help? Everyone else likes the ramp.. these chicks act like they dont' even know what it is. I even did like i did with the welsummers.. started them at teh bottom of the ramp & 'hopped" them up the ramp telling them this door is where you sleep, go in here. Welsummers had no problems from that night on. idk what to do. any more suggestions? Should i open the big door for a few nights so they get more light to come in by?

Yeah beclu..........wooo hoooo.

Greykyttyn, my boyfriend has said in the past, no one can figure out a chicken. You think you have them figured out and they do something totally different.
Opening the big door is worth a try. I guess I would try that next.

I want to thank you all for the hint to keep a light on for the chickens :). Last night was the first time out in the yard for the chooks, and I turned on the light far before it was dusk. When I went to check at almost dark, everyone was in the coop, and readying for sleep. Even the 6 that had just gone into the coop that day, and had never spent any time at all in the coop. The newbies sure do stick together! They move as one chicken, and it's hard to decide where one ends and the others begin. I've seen a few of the "big" guys peck at them, but nothing that seems really vicious. Hopefully, they'll be better today. I still have to get the bantams out, and I can't decide whether to wait until the ones just in adjust, or put them in now, and add to the confusion, hoping they will just kind of blend in. The banties have been with the big guys before, but I don't know if it will make any difference.

One of the first things I did when I moved into this house was disconnect the "security" light. I HATE these huge pole mounted lights that are on all night across the street. The next door neighbors is no longer on (crossing fingers it stays that way), and no, I didn't shoot it out....

Thanks again,

Hi catman,
I think I would go ahead and add them all now and keep and eye on them. I read that It's best to add the new ones to the flock when they are all roosted and sleeping for the night. Turn out lights and use a flashlight. That way they don't notice that the flock has growen in size.

Another thing I had read about and thought about trying to do when we intorduced youngester to the flock was.....
You can partition off part of the run with a temporarty fence and cut a hold that is big enought for the youngster to get though, but not the older ones. That way the youngsters have a place to escape to if they are being picked on. And that way they can get use to each other by seeing each other though the fence.

We usually have our younger ones penned in a smaller pen, that we put near the big pen. That way they start getting use to each other somewhat before we add them.

OOPs sorry should have been catmad :)