Training Chickens to "Coop" at Night

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Maybe your a newbie chicken keeper with teen chicks just old enough for the coop, or have a problem with stubborn chickens sleeping outside. You're not alone. Many people deal with these problems, but not many know an easy way to deal with it.

Lots of chicken keepers train their chickens to go inside at night by repeatedly chasing them in every night for a couple weeks until they catch on, or something similar. The method I use is much easier and less time consuming.


First Things First - Learn the Chicken Ways.

Chickens are creatures of habit. One way I proved it was when I extended my chicken yard. For over two weeks the chickens rarely ventured into the new part of their pen and acted like there was an invisible fence. That being said, act sooner rather than later to prevent your chickens from developing bad sleeping habits.

The natural way for a chicken to sleep is sitting on a roost. Nope, they don't like beds or the ground. Only hens with chicks, injured chickens, and sometimes silkies (if they can't reach the roost) will sleep on the ground. Moral: please provide your chickens roosts to sleep on!

In the wild, a flock of chickens try to get as high off the ground as they can at night, most often in the branches of a tree. They do this to help them stay safe from land predators. What we are trying to do is train the chickens that their coop is a safe place to sleep at night.

I have found that younger chickens, particularly pullets and cockerals, tend to be a little more adventurous and like to try sleeping on top of the coop sometimes (much like human kids and teens). But, younger chickens also adjust much faster than older birds. Older birds (by older I mean about 3+ years of age) are more chill with sleeping in coops, but don't catch on to new things as easily.


Moving on - The Method

How to train them is simple; just lock them in their coop full time for a few days. For young chickens, lock them in for about 3-4 days and for older hens do 5-7.

To do this you need a feeder and waterer in your coop. Chickens need access to fresh water 24/7, and must be fed at least once a day. Or, if you're like me, you can let them have access their feed all day long.

Anyways, lock them in for a few days, and the morning after the lock-in period is over you can let them out. They might not stray to far from the coop at first, but that's okay. Let them range at their own speed.

At night they will go into the coop by themselves!


In The Case of a Stubborn Sleeper

If you have a "stubborn sleeper," you have two options; put her/him in the coop every night yourself, or lock your whole flock in the coop for a couple days to repeat the training. What I do depends on (1) how busy I am, (2) my flock's circumstances, (3) how stubborn the chicken is, and (4) the chicken in general.

My worst case of a stubborn chicken was Bobsled. Her first summer she would always roost in the pear tree, high up. Every night I would climb up, catch her, and set her on the coop roost. After a couple weeks of this, she got to the point where sometimes she would sleep in the coop, sometimes in the tree. I would...er...patiently grab her every night she planned a sleepover and put her in the coop. Near winter she finally gave up and started sleeping in the coop every night by herself.

Bobsled had always liked to fly, from the time she was a chick. Hence her name. She was the wild chick of the batch, and didn't like being locked in the coop. She was the stubbornest chicken I've ever had, and it would have been easier to just repeat the training process with the whole flock. But I thought it through and realized that I had too many chickens to be locked in the coop all day. At the time, I was home a lot and not busy at all. So I chose to bring her in every night. As you can see there, I judged all four points to come to a conclusion.

But most the time, stubborn sleepers can be broken easily. Every year I have one or two pullets who decide to have a campout. By moving them from their outdoor roost and dusk and onto a roost in the coop I can usually break them in just a few days, or should I say nights?


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(Falcon and Alex planning a sleepover on top of the coop)


A Few Final Notes

-If you are merging young chickens into an existing flock, be careful locking them in small areas together. For this reason, I have multiple coops. It makes it easy to do the "See But Don't Touch Method" (you can learn more about this here: Introducing New Chickens: Using the “See but don’t touch” Method). But if multiple coops are not an option, just keep a watchful eye on the chickens and make sure they have plenty of room in the coop.

-If a mother hen raises chicks, she will naturally train them to go into the coop at night. And even if your young chickens aren't the chicks of your older hens, I find that young chickens often follow the examples of their elders to some extent.

-In the dark, chickens go blind. They have terrible night vision. That's why I put my stubborn sleepers in the coop at dusk, because they can't resist as much. But I don't like it to be pitch-black, then it's not safe for you or the chicken you are carrying. Another fact you might find useful is that most predators don't come out until late at night.

-I have never tried this method with ducks, geese, quail, or any other type of poultry, but I think it would work. If anybody tries it, please tell me how it goes!

-You might feel frustrated with your stubborn sleepers, but don't give up! Maybe some parts of this method don't work for you...change them! Everybody's flock is different! It will take a bit of practice and mistakes to learn your own way to deal with roosting problems, just be as patient as possible. It'll all turn out okay!

-I hope this article helps you! Wishing you the best of luck!
About author
PioneerChicks
The Creative Homesteaders raise and love on chickens, rabbits, cats, and a dog! We love nature and are always- becoming more self sufficient. We breed and conserve endangered heritage breeds!

About myself personally... I've been raising chickens for 10 years and have participated in 4-H since 2017. I love using my chicken knowledge to help other people!

If you have any questions or feedback about my article, please comment below or send me a PM. Don't forget to rate and review!

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Well written article on training your flock to roost at night and from my own chicken experience, I can see the 'cooping for a few days' method is very effective.
Great article. Well written and presented. Good accounts from personal experience. Like the pictures.
Not much else to write really. Good job.
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Been there, done that, it works.

I like the way you analyzed your options and explained your choice.
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Comments

I am a new mother hen, so excuse my ignorance. I bought an all-made coop with a run integrated. I also built a pen around it so they have more place to roam during the day. At night I round my teenagers back to the run, but I do not force them to go inside the coop. Should I put them in the actual house, or being in the protected run with the house door open acceptable? In other words, what is the reason behind keeping them in the coop at night?
 
I am a new mother hen, so excuse my ignorance. I bought an all-made coop with a run integrated. I also built a pen around it so they have more place to roam during the day. At night I round my teenagers back to the run, but I do not force them to go inside the coop. Should I put them in the actual house, or being in the protected run with the house door open acceptable? In other words, what is the reason behind keeping them in the coop at night?
If they're in the coop they will be dry when it rains and warm in the winter, and I'm guessing that in your run you don't have any perches? Chickens should perch at night because it's healthier for them than sleeping on the ground.

Do they go into the coop at all by themselves at night? If so, then I think you could get away with locking them inside their run and coop for a few days instead of just the coop. If not than you probably want to try locking them in the coop.

Does this answer your question?
 
They can perch in their run, and we have put a layer of fencing under it so they are perfectly safe from predators. If they are safe, is there any reason to keep them inside? They do go inside by themselves when it gets dark, but are always out at 6am. The only reason I could see is to control where they will eventually lay their eggs?
 
They can perch in their run, and we have put a layer of fencing under it so they are perfectly safe from predators. If they are safe, is there any reason to keep them inside? They do go inside by themselves when it gets dark, but are always out at 6am. The only reason I could see is to control where they will eventually lay their eggs?
My main reason I want my chickens inside is because of predators. If they are safe from predators than I see no problem with them sleeping in your run. If they are outside in the day and inside at night that is completely normal.

Will you be providing nesting boxes inside your coop for them? If so, they should lay eggs inside them (when they are old enough), but if you are still concerned about them laying eggs in the wrong places or start finding eggs laying in random spots you can try placing fake eggs in the nesting boxes.
 
My main reason I want my chickens inside is because of predators. If they are safe from predators than I see no problem with them sleeping in your run. If they are outside in the day and inside at night that is completely normal.

Will you be providing nesting boxes inside your coop for them? If so, they should lay eggs inside them (when they are old enough), but if you are still concerned about them laying eggs in the wrong places or start finding eggs laying in random spots you can try placing fake eggs in the nesting boxes.
They have nesting boxes with fake eggs already inside the coop. Now they seem more and more to use the coop for sleeping. I think I will le them make their own decisions until it gets too cold at night...
 
My girls are @ 7 weeks now, I still bring them inside the house at night. during the day they go outside and roam a fenced yard. they have a covered run also, and a coop in the garage that has a door from the run that they use to access the coop. the coop has a run attached underneath it and that is where the girls seem to hang out... they do not like to go up the ramp to get into the coop with the roost and nesting boxes. my husband added cross sections to the ramp as it seemed they were having trouble getting up. sometimes they will be laying on the ramp, but they won't go inside the coop section. I have an LED light bar in the coop so they can see. they have been up in the coop one time... I picked each one up and put her up through a side access door. It is starting to get cold here where our highs are in the 40's and we are down in the 20's at night, I don't want to start leaving the girls outside if they aren't going into the warmer part of the coop. it is now our wet and cold season before the snow flies. any suggestions
 
My girls are @ 7 weeks now, I still bring them inside the house at night. during the day they go outside and roam a fenced yard. they have a covered run also, and a coop in the garage that has a door from the run that they use to access the coop. the coop has a run attached underneath it and that is where the girls seem to hang out... they do not like to go up the ramp to get into the coop with the roost and nesting boxes. my husband added cross sections to the ramp as it seemed they were having trouble getting up. sometimes they will be laying on the ramp, but they won't go inside the coop section. I have an LED light bar in the coop so they can see. they have been up in the coop one time... I picked each one up and put her up through a side access door. It is starting to get cold here where our highs are in the 40's and we are down in the 20's at night, I don't want to start leaving the girls outside if they aren't going into the warmer part of the coop. it is now our wet and cold season before the snow flies. any suggestions
Lock them in the coop for a few days, you can find details in the article above. Good luck!
 
Do the chickens lay their eggs in the coop before they go out? We have free chickens but I am getting tired of hunting nests and we wanted to move them to a night coop for protection and also if they would lay the eggs in there too.
 
We are trying to train our chicks to go into the coop at night. Everyone suggest locking them in the coop for 2-3 days. Our chicks are 4 week old and love being out side in their run. It's July in South Carolina and the temp in the coop reaches 105 during the day. Is it still a good idea the have them cooped up during the hottest part of a summer day?
 
We are trying to train our chicks to go into the coop at night. Everyone suggest locking them in the coop for 2-3 days. Our chicks are 4 week old and love being out side in their run. It's July in South Carolina and the temp in the coop reaches 105 during the day. Is it still a good idea the have them cooped up during the hottest part of a summer day?

No, cooping them in that kind of heat could be dangerous. :(

Just put them in every night and they'll eventually learn.
 
That is what we thought... trying to lure the with treats, tonight trying a light to see if it draws them into the coop.

When you pick them up to put them in be sure to put them in through their pop door and not carry them around to your access door. That way they know where the right door is.
 
We have chickens that we bought in April. They go in and out the coop throughout the day and in the evening. We purchased a solar powered automatic door to open in the early morning and it closes around dusk. It seems that they go in the coop, then, they straggle back out. We find that we have to manually re-open the door to allow them to go back in. Not sure what keeps them from staying in the coop. Our coop has 2 windows in it, So, not sure what's going on. My in-laws had chickens years ago and had thier chickens were in a root cellar with White painted walls, would that make a difference. Please advise.
 
My chickens go back out because the rooster is having his last hurrah before nightfall. lol. He is generally the last one in at night, but he will follow the girls out and then chase them around, and back in.

Perhaps you have noticed the same behavior?
 
To whom ever wrote this article, THANK YOU!!!!!! Couldn’t figure out how to get our chicks to coop at night and decided to give the problem to google and found this article…worked like a charm!!!
 

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