chickens won't go in coop at night

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kathyzimmy

kathyzimmy

Chirping
6 Years
May 22, 2017
14
15
99
I have three chickens, all four months old. I have never had trouble getting them to go into their coop until recently. For several nights in a row, it took about an hour to get them to go in. Because of this, I kept them in their coop for a full week. I let them out for a few hours in the evening, and they went right in. Then I went away for the weekend, and they were in their coop for another two days. When I let them out the next day, they would not go into their coop again. I am new to raising chickens, so any advice would be appreciated. Just FYI, I followed the recommendations for size of coop, so I don't think that size is a problem. They sometimes go into their coop during the day, so I don't think there are mites for anything like that. I clean poop out of the hen house every day (but not the run), so I don't think it is dirty. HELP!!!
 
kathyzimmy said:
I have three chickens, all four months old. I have never had trouble getting them to go into their coop until recently. For several nights in a row, it took about an hour to get them to go in. Because of this, I kept them in their coop for a full week. I let them out for a few hours in the evening, and they went right in. Then I went away for the weekend, and they were in their coop for another two days. When I let them out the next day, they would not go into their coop again. I am new to raising chickens, so any advice would be appreciated. Just FYI, I followed the recommendations for size of coop, so I don't think that size is a problem. They sometimes go into their coop during the day, so I don't think there are mites for anything like that. I clean poop out of the hen house every day (but not the run), so I don't think it is dirty. HELP!!!
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How late/dark is it when you go to put them in??? It could be that they don't think its bedtime yet. And you know how teenagers are about bed time.;)
 
rjohns39 said:
How late/dark is it when you go to put them in??? It could be that they don't think its bedtime yet. And you know how teenagers are about bed time.;)
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Last night it was about 6:45. The most stubborn chick was already roosting in a tree. She does that every night now.
 
I'm new to this too but was reading up on mites and the article said that chickens with mites that are being bitten at night might refuse to go into the coop - it's painful and they know it - maybe reading up on some mite/lice article and checking them for lice around the vents and looking in crevices for mites or seeing if they're jumping around on the roosts at night? mites only come out at night I read and jump off the chickens in the day - people find a lot of them under the roost where the roost is against a wall and being held up, so maybe that's the reason?
 
kathyzimmy said:
Last night it was about 6:45. The most stubborn chick was already roosting in a tree. She does that every night now.
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I have 3 that are like that. I adjusted my time to go out by a half hour and everyone other than the three stooges are in their houses on their roosts, all I have to do is close the doors.
 
rjohns39 said:
I have 3 that are like that. I adjusted my time to go out by a half hour and everyone other than the three stooges are in their houses on their roosts, all I have to do is close the doors.
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Do you go out a half hour earlier or later?
 
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