Sleeping outside in freezing weather

alinas2010 said:

Mine have become spoiled ninnies and won’t come out of their coop at the slightest wind or cold anymore

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Awww

lydfou said:

thats plenty big for six chickens. i have several i have to force into the coup every night, for their safety. There may be no particular reason why they don't like the coop right now. You are doing a good job of husbandry. If they are in a secure pen, i wouldn't stress unless your winters make them vulnerable to the weather. Don't let people bully you.

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Thanks for that, as you can see there’s a wide range of opinions but I do my best

Mark Park said:

Check their perches for tiny blood stains. It sounds like you have mites.

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I did that too. Nothing. Thank you!

CrystalAnon said:

I used that rodent repellent & they just bit through the bags.
Also tried the humane bucket traps & the squirrels knocked them over every morning to get to the peanut butter, so even if I got one, they didn’t stay in there by the time I got to them. Thinking of using mouse traps with Velcro stickers on the trap, attaching to one on the board above the laying boxes (so the chickens can’t get to them & when they trap a mouse, it won’t fall into the main coop area).
I think what ended up happening is the squirrels figured out how to get into the coop, but they had to trample all over the nests the mice were trying to live in, so I think they moved out. Haven’t seen any trace of poop or more damage from them.
But the rodents never caused my chickens to stop roosting in the coop.
That is a pretty tiny coop & run. Looks nice in the pictures, but when you see the dimensions/photos in the coop ad, it brings it into perspective.
We have 8 chickens in a 8x6ft coop (measured from inside - 7 ft tall at the highest point), with a 20x6.5ft hoop run (measured from inside). I’ll post a couple pictures.
You might consider extending your coop &/or the run. I am not a builder AT ALL, and it was easy to build our hoop run, covered in hardware cloth. No plans to work from… only measuring & cutting. Just need to build the frame on the ground, then 16ftx4ft cattle panel over in an arch so they can attach to the inside of the frame, and so it’s tall enough you can walk in it. Attach the cattle panels together with zip ties. Then lay the hardware cloth over that & fill in any gaps with hardware cloth. The hardest part was building a sturdy door at the end of the hoop, so we could clean the run & let them out to forage.
I hope you find a good solution!

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That’s very nice coop. Thanks for sharing. My gals free range all day so I’m not worried about their run. The coop may not be the best but I’m hoping it’ll work with all the mods I’ve done.

KimbosKluckers said:

Thanks for that. I know the pre fab isn’t ideal but hopefully with my modifications it can work. I’m always trying to do new things for them. Right now they’re out roaming the property with their pig brother

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Oh nice!! As long as they’re getting enough outdoor time, I don't think the coop size is as important.
Here in FL it is very important because it gets so hot & humid in the summer. Need SO much ventilation, but also blockage from hurricane winds/rain, especially this year.
Great job trouble shooting this. Hope they start enjoying their

KimbosKluckers said:

That’s very nice coop. Thanks for sharing. My gals free range all day so I’m not worried about their run. The coop may not be the best but I’m hoping it’ll work with all the mods I’ve done.

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You’ve done an awesome job! If ever in the future though… the hoop run is awesome. Some make hoop coops. I’m such a chicken nerd, I’ll just look up different coops all day sometimes.
Have they decided to come back in yet?

CrystalAnon said:

Oh nice!! As long as they’re getting enough outdoor time, I don't think the coop size is as important.
Here in FL it is very important because it gets so hot & humid in the summer. Need SO much ventilation, but also blockage from hurricane winds/rain, especially this year.
Great job trouble shooting this. Hope they start enjoying their

You’ve done an awesome job! If ever in the future though… the hoop run is awesome. Some make hoop coops. I’m such a chicken nerd, I’ll just look up different coops all day sometimes.
Have they decided to come back in yet?

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That climate would be tough!! How do you possibly give enough ventilation and also prevent harsh wind and rain? Wow! It is fun seeing all the different coop ideas out there. Some are so creative! I thank you for sharing yours. I locked them in last night so I’ll see tonight if they go willingly or if I need to shove them in again. Haha. If they refuse after that then they’re on their own. They are safe and covered.

KimbosKluckers said:

My gals (8 months old) are starting to roost outside their coop even in snowy/cold weather. This just started a couple weeks ago, they used to always coop up. Nothing has changed except the weather. Their run is completely predator proof. Is this normal? I even put a light in their coop since I read that maybe my solar lights keep them out. I put them in manually a couple times and they run right back out. Thanks!

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I found my girls roosting outside when it was getting cooler. They are 5 hens 9 months old and three hens 2 years old, three nights 2 to 3 of them. I read here that they go for the highest roost and checked out the high roost in the coop and the highest one in the run. The outdoor one was higher so I took that down and everyone goes in at night now. Hope this helps. Gwendolyne

Gyendolyn said:

I found my girls roosting outside when it was getting cooler. They are 5 hens 9 months old and three hens 2 years old, three nights 2 to 3 of them. I read here that they go for the highest roost and checked out the high roost in the coop and the highest one in the run. The outdoor one was higher so I took that down and everyone goes in at night now. Hope this helps. Gwendolyne

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Nice that you found that out! My outdoor roost is about 2” lower than the inside. I made the inside ones wider yesterday so I hope that helps. I didn’t realize how small they were. Thanks!

triciayoung said:

I don't think it is the lights. I would take a really good look at the coop for mice, holes, mites, etc

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True. Looking back, all my girls except one started roosting elsewhere. Found mites in the coop later.

KimbosKluckers said:

That climate would be tough!! How do you possibly give enough ventilation and also prevent harsh wind and rain? Wow! It is fun seeing all the different coop ideas out there. Some are so creative! I thank you for sharing yours. I locked them in last night so I’ll see tonight if they go willingly or if I need to shove them in again. Haha. If they refuse after that then they’re on their own. They are safe and covered.

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It’s a really tough balance. We had a local chicken coop builder make our coop for us. Florida Chicken Coops! Look them up on YouTube if you live in Florida & interested, everyone. It’s so reasonable, as far as price goes. Cindy is absolutely the best! She customized our coop for what we needed. She works with you, and her last video (a few days ago) was about how well they stood up to the hurricanes with a repeat customer of hers.
We moved from California in late 2022, so we wanted a local to build us something we couldn’t build for ourselves. We wanted someone with knowledge of the climate & issues that might arise. She knows what’s necessary for this climate & it’s worked out amazingly for us, especially being first time chicken owners & Florida residents.
You need ventilation above & below. As well as windows you can close in the middle for wind & sideways rain. She uses sand for her coop floor. I still use hemp bedding, but I can see why she uses sand. You can fluff it up and it will dry even when sun is not directly on it. Hemp is decent, but I plan to change to sand when I can find a decent fluffy sand, for free or cheap. We have a lot of sand on our property but it is way too fine for the coop. It gets hard & compacted easily.
I think you’re right. If they continue staying outside, apparently they like it better. As long as they’re safe, it’s all good. We all have preferences.
All the Best,
Crystal

KimbosKluckers said:

My outdoor roost is about 2” lower than the inside. I made the inside ones wider yesterday so I hope that helps. I didn’t realize how small they were.

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You might want to remove the outside roosts temporarily, that might move things along more quickly.

I'm not sure where your solar lights are? Outside the coop/run area? If the yard is pretty bright I think it could disturb their sleep/wake cycle. Make them not want to go inside because it is not dark?

I wish there were solar lights that I could turn off after a couple of hours. I only want them from sunset to a couple of hours later, because I know the light pollution disturbs many kinds of wildlife and insects. And I don't need the yard to be light while I'm sleeping. But they are made to stay on dusk to dawn. If I remember, I put caps on them part of the day, so they don't last all night. They are far away from the coop and give off a pretty weak light.

My girls voluntarily crowd from the run into the closed part of the coop when it starts to get dark, so I put a flashlight in there until they are all up on the roost. It only takes about 10 minutes. Then I take it out so they can sleep in complete dark, and I lock all the doors in the coop and run. Once I forgot and left the light in all night and they were very irritable in the morning.

I don't let mine go loose, because I'm afraid of owls and hawks. If I take them out to free range on grass, they are in a chicken tractor with a cover. I have to catch them and put them back in the run before dark, they would just run all over and hide in the yard (or even fly over the fence, where all my neighbors have more dogs than me!)

I think the mice might be scaring yours at night, or maybe it is a bigger rodent. Since your wood floor area is so small, you could take all the bedding out and put a pet mat there. They cost about $15. It collects all the poop every night. I fold it up and shake it into a bucket in the morning and dump it in the compost. I rinse off any wet poop with the mat hanging over the side of the compost bin, and let it dry in the sun. I put a clean mat in every night, and wash them in the machine a few times a week. Your nighttime invaders might not be attracted to a floor with no wood shavings. I also put something like First Saturday Lime or Diatomaceous Earth once in a while to discourage mites. It doesn't cause a breathing problem if it is under the rug (which is lined with something waterproof on the bottom). I do have bedding out in the run area. If the coop feels too damp I put Sweet PDZ in there to dry it out and neutralize any odors.