Help on teaching chick to go up ramp for the night after Mom....

[Life is Good!]

I've got a new Black Java mom with 2 chicks - and she's choosing to bring them out into the yard with her all day (yes, they have their food and water out there too - how much water does 2 chicks need? 3 waterers - 1 in coop, 1 in yard, 1 half-way between the two spaces!). This is their third day outside.

Mom lets them get snoozes periodically through the day. She leads them to food and water throughout the day. She's a GREAT mom.

But each night, she and one of the chicks get back up the ramp into the coop (18" ramp with a 12" height). But the other chick just cannot figure out how to get up there!

Any suggestions on how to help this little one learn this 'trick'? Our rooster is VERY protective of the mom and babies - so being in the same space for any duration is risky. So I cannot simply walk into the run and have the chick practice 9 or 10 times...would like to if I could figure out where to put Dad...

 

[hannakat]

I'd also like to know how those little ones are going to get back up that ramp..... mine are due to hatch tomorrow and with an elevated coop....I've been worried!!

Been thinking to put a box underneath the coop hoping she'll take up residence there with the babies....don't know what else I can do?

 

[Life is Good!]

Our little lost chick finally figured out how to get up the ramp on night #4. Seems this chick was on the wrong side of the fence a lot of the time, so I used bricks and rocks to plug the gaps...Mom and both chicks made in into the coop just fine! So she's sleeping on the floor underneath the roost bars (ewww....but that's where she's chosen) - I've been cleaning under there daily so the chicks stay healthy. Good thing I'd just changed all the pine bedding the day before hers hatched! Perhaps that's why she chose that spot - nice and clean!

Another Mom (had 3 broodies at the same time sitting on eggs more or less set at the same point) chose to camp out UNDER the ramp with her 1 chick, leaving her remaining eggs in the coop. While I know my run is predator-resistant, I'm not exactly certain it's predator-proof (the coop surely is though!). I had made an 'emergency' coop out of a dog crate (the plastic clam-shell kind), so I put that in the run and placed Mom and chick into it for the night. They've gone in every night since then. Her nest is in there too, and she sits tight all night, but during the day, she's up and out with the chick.

My third Mom is quite a bully. So I made her a broody coop (it's a duplex, but haven't divided it yet), low to the ground intentionally to avoid this problem. She and her four chicks are living in these quarters all on their own. It'll be interesting to see when she moves back into the main coop.... Here's a picture of it:

 

[Featherland26]

That looks very professional! However I must say that my chicks tend to get lost under the ramp so I had to block up the sides of the ramps too.

 

[Life is Good!]

Featherland,
I moved this coop to against the back of the barn and did some quick landscaping to have the ramps be level with the edge of the ground. Benefit to having nothing but dirt thanks to your chickens scratching effort! So the ramps are not at a slant, and there is not a gap underneath them (or very very little).

Now, the clamshell coop is off the ground by 6", and that chick uses the ramp as a hiding place. All well and good except when I'm trying to tuck the little booger into bed for the night! Mom hasn't taught chick how to go up the ramp - so I'm having to do it. She scampers up the ramp and chick scampers under the ramp - then they're both cheeping at one another like "Marco Polo" in the pool.....gads.....silly chickens! (So I end up shutting the door on Mom, grabbing the chick from under the ramp/coop and opening the door to stick the chick in with her.) Ugh.

 

[RonC]

Instead of putting the little one in the coop just set her on the ramp and see if she gets the idea. Maybe try a couple of times before putting her inside. Some aren't the sharpest pencils in the box.

 

[Life is Good!]

This little hen is definately not a sharp pencil in ANY box!
I think I'll try to put Mom on the ramp and see if baby climbs up also...Mom prefers to sleep under the ramp for the big coop, and as that's not very secure, I'd rather she bed down inside this little coop. She doesn't particularly favor it. That's ok, but she's still sleeping in there! I prefer it!

I'm thinking of bribery for tonight's adventure. Mom love, love, loves red grapes. So I've got some red grapes chilled and ready to go. If I can lure Mom into the coop, chick will follow. If nothing else, it's worth a shot!

 

[RonC]

Mine are four months old now. I let them out into the yard almost every day to forage for a bit. One of mine can't find her way in or out of the run unless she's got another to show her where the door is. This isn't a little chicken door, it's the 30 inch wide one I use.

 

[Life is Good!]

Mom taught chick how to go up the ramp!!!

Yeah chickie!!!

I had 'borrowed' the eggs to show a neighbor's daughter what the chick looked like inside the egg - i.e. candling. As anyone else is - she was fascinated! I had her hold the egg and 'feel' the chick moving around inside the shell. That kind of creeped her out a bit, as a surprise sort of thing. Her mom and I visited for a good long while so it was about an hour after I borrowed the eggs - about 2hrs before dusk - when I went out to return the eggs to their rightful spot and there was Mom and chick inside the dog crate coop, sitting tight! Mom growled as I approached, I showed her the eggs and she was kind of like, "oh, is THAT where I left them?". I put the eggs in front of her, and she gently nudged them back underneath her belly! Too cute. Chick didn't appreciate getting bumped from the 'prime' spot, but hey, sibling rivalry starts early, eh?

Go chick go!!! This one little chick is very anxiously awaited for!