Chickens don't like outside....

[boilerjoe_96]

Fenced in a 10 X 25 area for my 10 6-7ish week old chicks. Built a temp coop for them. This got them out of my barn...

Went to all this trouble and they just stay in the coop. Except for about 8:30pm last night as the sun was going down, and then I found 6 of the 10 laying in the grass at 11pm. They were all in different spots along the fence. I kinda wanted to see what would happen at dark. Well, I had an errand to run and got home at 11. I scooped them all up and put in coop and shut the door(I normally shut it up at night).

Why would my chicks during the day not want to go outside, (weather in Indiana sun and 75 yest and 79 today) but nest down and sleep outside at night.

Is this normal behavior???

 

[TheBigWRanch]

They just need time to get used to it. The outside scares them right now, and the ones that went out probably realized it wasn't horrible, and decided to stay. They should all go out in time.

 

[silkiechicken]

It takes time. I have 8 week old birds who still prefer to spend about half the day inside a dark coop. When they get older, they start to clammer to get out of the fenced area and out to freedom.

 

[4H kids and mom]

I think it makes a difference on when you begin exposing them to "outside" just as much as their 'preference'. I have my 7 weekers and they crowd the door to get out in the morning. I think the difference is that they have been exposed to 'outside' since they were 3-4 weeks old (nice weather days only, of course) and they know its fun and sunny and they're used to all the sounds. At 3-4 weeks, they are less nervous in new situations and more likely to imprint, not only on people, but on surroundings as well. They learned that young about outside and that the coop was their "safe place". My chicks now go out when the door opens around 10am, and they put themselves to roost when the sun goes down completely. They also run to the coop if something outside frightens them.