Coop problems

[zippy]

I recently put my 7week old chicks (5 of them)in the coop I built. The coop is an "A" frame, 8' long,4' wide at the bottom and 4' tall. The outside is covered in wire except where the hen house is. The hen house is about 16" off the ground, and takes up about half of the length of the coop. My question is what are the possibilities why the chickens won't go in the house?

 

[SpottedCrow]

They may not be used to it yet...we all hate change and if they've gone from a warm, snug, comfy brooder to a cold, windy, place they're not going to be comfortable with it.

 

[BeckyLa]

They're only 7 weeks old, to begin with. They don't know they're supposed to go up top. They don't know about ramps and things. It will take some time and patience to train them. Put them in the top at night and lock them up. Then let them out in the morning and let them find their own way down. You'll have to keep this routine up until they get the idea.

 

[TJ]

I agree...I recently went thru the same thing with my almost 5 wk. old chicks. They went from the brooder to the chicken house and acted like they were scared to death the first several days, but after that they were running around like they own the place.
The same way when it came time to let them explore the chicken run. They acted unsure of it at first and at dusk I had to go out there and put half of them back into the chicken house because they didn't know they were supposed to go in there at night. Of course, I close them up at night but now they all go in their house when it starts to get dark.
It is funny in the morning when I go out there and open the door from their house to the run, they all come shooting out of there like "yippeee"!

It takes them awhile...you'll have to show them the routine.

Best wishes!

 

[cookinmom]

Quote:
I love that part, when you first open the door in the morning and they all come shooting out! Mine are older now, and their run is all enclosed, so we leave their little door open all night, so now I miss the morning rush. It did take them a little while to figure out how to use the ramp. I just started opening it and leaving the big door shut until they got the hang of it. Now I open the big door all day too, though, to get more air in there, and close it at night.