Pullets won't sleep in the hen house

[nodoggies]

*UPDATE: Last night they went inside all on their own. It seems simply posting on the forum did the trick *

Help! My pullets won't go into the hen house at night. They huddle up to sleep in a corner of their run, which is fenced but definitely not predator proof. The hen house has an automatic door that is currently set to shut a bit after dark. I've never had this problem before; this is a new flock, so there's no one to show them the ropes. I've been picking them up and putting them into the hen house at night for the past few days, but I'm not sure if this is helping them to learn, or just making it worse. Suggestions??

 

[azygous]

How old are they? One big reason why youngsters refuse to go inside the coop at night is adult chickens bullying them, but you have a clean slate and no worries in that area.

You do need to teach young chickens to go inside at night. I've never, ever had them figure it out on their own. Picking them up and stuffing them into the coop is one way to do it, but it causes a lot of stress and hampers your relationship with them.

What I've found to work best is for me to get inside the coop and call them in. I condition my baby chicks to come to me when I signal them. They learn this in less than a day before they're even one week old. I use a clicker to signal them and meal worms to close the deal.

It has never taken longer than three days for them to learn to go in on their own except for when I had a coop full of adult chickens that were terrorizing them as they tried to go inside. It's why I built a grow-out coop so my chicks never have to go through that again.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

Thank for that advice azygous. We have a similar issue with our new flock. It is like my husband has to tuck them into bed each evening. Definitely going to try the treat trick. So how does the clicker work though?

 

[LearninMyFlock]

Best wishes in teaching your flock. Whenever we would feed our chicks we would say here chick, chick, chick. They then would associate that with their food and come running as soon as I would call them. I was given the advice to keep them inside for a week or two at the beginning so they knew that was their home. That's what worked for us.
Best wishes and enjoy your new lil flock..

 

[azygous]

A clicker is just a convenient audible cue. You can select a word or use a bell or other signal. I start training my baby chicks to come to me in their first week, and I use the clicker because it's handy. Before that I just said, "Babies!" when I wanted them to come. I reinforced their responses with a meal worm treat, live meal worms since dried meal worms are rather hard on a small chick's digestive system.

Then when the chicks are ready to move into their coop around five weeks of age, it's easy to signal them to come into the coop since they are already clicker trained to come to me. This method of summoning the chicks into the coop is natural and teaches them to feel comfortable entering the coop on their own instead of chasing them, catching them, and then stuffing them inside where they find themselves encountering a strange new place under duress.

Any age chickens, from day-olds to adults, can be trained to come when signaled in just a day. When the chicks respond and come inside the coop, they are rewarded with a meal worm each. Then comes roost training which only takes a couple of nights to get them to stay when placed on the perch.

 

[azygous]

There really is no need to coop up chicks for several days for them to imprint on the coop as home. They have an instinct to seek cover at night, so all you really need to do is teach them how to go in.

It does help, though, on the day you plan to move them into the coop, to summon them inside the coop earlier in the day and allow them to explore and play for a few hours before bedtime. That way, as it gets dark, the chicks aren't experiencing a strange new place as it gets dark.

Until you've had chicks for many years, it's easy to assume that such a small brained animal would have a long learning curve. The truth is, chickens learn new things much faster than dogs or cats. And they won't forget the lesson.

 

[LearninMyFlock]

There really is no need to coop up chicks for several days for them to imprint on the coop as home. They have an instinct to seek cover at night, so all you really need to do is teach them how to go in.

It does help, though, on the day you plan to move them into the coop, to summon them inside the coop earlier in the day and allow them to explore and play for a few hours before bedtime. That way, as it gets dark, the chicks aren't experiencing a strange new place as it gets dark.

Until you've had chicks for many years, it's easy to assume that such a small brained animal would have a long learning curve. The truth is, chickens learn new things much faster than dogs or cats. And they won't forget the lesson.

O great!! That's so good to know! Thank you! I appreciate knowing that. I've had chickens off and on( mostly on) for the last 8 years. And I'm glad to know that isn't necessary to keep them shut in. Thank you for that.