Up the ramp, please...

[wordscapes]

I just moved my 3-mo old girls to their forever home - a coop with 10 ft run and enclosure with nesting boxes raised above one end of run. BUT the gals won't go up the ramp to enclosed area. Tried laying a trail of meal worms, which they followed and ate, but they immediately came back down the ramp and stayed outside, huddled together at night. How do I get them to use ramp and stay inside at night?

 

[aart]

Lock them in the coop for a few days....then open the door and let them figure out how to get down the ramp.

 

[jthornton]

Do you have a window near the roost? It may be too dark inside as dusk approaches. I had the exact same problem and I even put them by hand and closed the door so they had to spend the night and about half would get on the roost and the rest would just sit on the floor. As soon as I replaced the tin roof over the roost with a clear fiberglass one they went in like they had been doing it all their lives.

Chickens can't see in the dark so if it is darker inside than outside they will stay outside.

JT

 

[nminusyplusm]

Do you have a window near the roost? It may be too dark inside as dusk approaches. I had the exact same problem and I even put them by hand and closed the door so they had to spend the night and about half would get on the roost and the rest would just sit on the floor. As soon as I replaced the tin roof over the roost with a clear fiberglass one they went in like they had been doing it all their lives.

Chickens can't see in the dark so if it is darker inside than outside they will stay outside.

JT

That's a good point. Even with my locking them in and my coop having large windows, they didn't get it until I secured a clip lamp in the coop for 3 evenings. After that, no problem.

 

[wordscapes]

Thanks all...we will

 

[wordscapes]

Thanks, will try providing more light...!

 

[tigger19687]

At night you can put them up on the roost too.
I don't have a Ramp, but a box so they can jump to that them up to roost. They mostly jump from floor anyway.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Hi everyone. I am having a similar problem and am a bit at my wits' end. I would really appreciate some advice. I recently brought in a new adult hen, and she is very sweet and is integrating well, except for one thing. She seems totally flummoxed by the ramp up to the coop, and also by jumping up to the perch. I have the sense that my lead hen is actually delaying going up because she wants this hen to go up first, but new hen won't go up, and so I end up waiting until after lead hen is in the coop and then I have to go out every night and secure new hen myself. I don't have the kind of job where I can be home every day at sunset, so I am anxious to figure out how to help new hen.

She knows the coop is "home" and that she's supposed to go up there - I see her looking up at the entrance as the sun sets.

Mainly, I don't know if what I am doing is helping or making things worse. I have been trying to place her gently on the lower part of the ramp during the day to make her comfortable on it. She doesn't love that. At roosting time, rather than just placing her on the perch, I have been trying to help her walk up the ramp. She can do this, with my help and some fluttering, but she doesn't like it.

Once in the coop, she won't jump up on the perch. Again, part of me is worried that lead hen is causing this to happen when it is too dark for new hen to manage things (I only have two hens, which I know is not ideal, but for personal and logistical reasons it has to be that way right now).

This is a lot of info, so I'll try to be clear about what I'm asking. First, I should say that I am not handy and do not have building skills, so suggestions that involve modifying or adding to the coop in some way will unfortunately be very hard for me. Also, I worry that doing something like adding a lower roost for new hen, even if I hire someone else to do it, will then interfere with lead hen's ability to maneuver in the coop (it's not very big). If at all possible, I need to acclimate new hen to the setup.

I also, unfortunately, can't adjust the steepness of the ramp -- I tried that but discovered that when I make it less steep from the bottom, it squishes things at the top so that she is kind of wedged (Light Brahma -- large girl) at the top and can't get through the opening.

My questions are: am I making it worse by trying to help her? Should I just back off and eventually she will figure it out? Should I intervene and encourage her to go up before lead hen does so she has more light? How do I keep lead hen from getting involved in that and making things even more stressful? Are there any other ideas others have about how to encourage a hen to learn to use a ramp and jump on a perch?

 

[aart]

I also, unfortunately, can't adjust the steepness of the ramp -- I tried that but discovered that when I make it less steep from the bottom, it squishes things at the top so that she is kind of wedged (Light Brahma -- large girl) at the top and can't get through the opening.

Pics would help immensely.
I'm guessing your pop door is in the floor of the coop?
Are there windows in the coop so there's some light in there even when it's dusky outside?
I'd get one of those battery powered puck lights and put it in the coop an hour before roosting time, then turn it off once you lock up for the night.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Pics would help immensely.
I'm guessing your pop door is in the floor of the coop?
Are there windows in the coop so there's some light in there even when it's dusky outside?
I'd get one of those battery powered puck lights and put it in the coop an hour before roosting time, then turn it off once you lock up for the night.

Hi @aart ! Thanks so much for replying; it is nice to hear from you, and you always have such great advice. I will get some pics; it's a complicated setup. I like the light idea. I was also thinking about your comment upthread about forcing her to figure out how to get down. I haven't been doing that either because (sigh) this all happened right around the Xmas holidays (original second hen died and had to be replaced quickly for mental health of first hen). I've been very self-conscious about clucking and other noise while everyone around me is on break and home, so when she squawks in the morning after lead hen goes down, I've been lifting her out. Maybe I need to stop doing this.