MMelton67
Chirping
1st off: I've read through at least 3 other threads on this over the last week and am posting this question because I think I've ruled out the main deterrents to chickens wanting to roost in their coop: Predators, Mites, space, ventilation.
Timeline: 16 chicks born June 19th 8 Lavender Orps, 8 Barred Plymouth Rocks shipped from Hoover's
June 21: Kept in small brooder cages. Initially all 16 in one 2'x3' then split them in half to a 2nd 2'x3' cage.
Jul 20: I put them all in a 4'x8' tractor I was moving out of the garage in the AM and back in for the night. Lost one BPR to some sort of illness during this time.
Aug 18: moved them to a 4'x8' coop with an 8'x8 run which I then added a 50' perimeter net run.
Not enclosed overhead and lost 1 LO and 1 BPR to hawks.
Dec 5: moved to current 8'x8' coop with 8'x40' totally enclosed run.
The current situation, I think, meets the needs of 16 full sized birds at 4sf per bird (more so in that there are just 13 now) in the run and 320sf of run space.
The coop is 8x8, 6.5' tall at the front and 5' tall at the back. 1 14" deep by 48" wide colony style nesting box in the coop. There is no issue of them laying, we just had a max day of 10 eggs from 13 birds that are still just shy of 7 months and our daily average has been 6 for 5-7 weeks AFTER their move to this new coop situation 6 weeks ago. They are feeding, watering and laying in the coop. They just aren't sleeping in it at night.
I have inspected the perimeter of the entire coop and run and see no indications of anything trying to get in. It's been cold and wet for over a week and any predator would leave muddy footprints. Over the last 16 months of living on this property and walking it multiple times a day, I feel we are relatively low population of racoons and possum.
I've intentionally stirred up the bedding and used a flashlight to observe the dust...it clears in what I think is an appropriate time leaving no long lasting cloud. Even in the week of mostly cloudy, rainy and generally damp conditions, I can walk into the coop and feel like I'm in a dry environment.
There are two, 8' roosting bars set at 24 and 36 inches off the floor. The roosting box is set so it's top is 18" off the ground. They are laying in it fine and not roosting on top of it.
I just went down there 30 minutes ago, well after dark and all of them are clustered near the front of coop, most laying on the ground, 2 sitting in their doorway to the coop and 2 on the hinged door. I didn't not have my phone with me, so no pic.
We are dropping into single digits Sunday night and I will physically place them in the coop Sunday afternoon and shut them in.
Otherwise, I'm at a loss. Here is a pic of the inside of the coop from my access door. Their door to the run is to the right. I had just added the square pan in the middle there with some sand and generic kitty litter. It's been so wet they have lost their natural dust baths outside. The roosting issue has predated this addition. I had added a 2' long swing roost in the middle of this space but took it down thinking maybe they didn't like it and weren't roosting because of it. I also had 2 8' roost bars in the run and another 2' swing. 5 nights ago, I realized they were roosting outside instead of inside and after reading other threads, removed all roosting options but the ones inside the coop. 2 days now of no other options and they're camping on the ground...
Timeline: 16 chicks born June 19th 8 Lavender Orps, 8 Barred Plymouth Rocks shipped from Hoover's
June 21: Kept in small brooder cages. Initially all 16 in one 2'x3' then split them in half to a 2nd 2'x3' cage.
Jul 20: I put them all in a 4'x8' tractor I was moving out of the garage in the AM and back in for the night. Lost one BPR to some sort of illness during this time.
Aug 18: moved them to a 4'x8' coop with an 8'x8 run which I then added a 50' perimeter net run.
Not enclosed overhead and lost 1 LO and 1 BPR to hawks.
Dec 5: moved to current 8'x8' coop with 8'x40' totally enclosed run.
The current situation, I think, meets the needs of 16 full sized birds at 4sf per bird (more so in that there are just 13 now) in the run and 320sf of run space.
The coop is 8x8, 6.5' tall at the front and 5' tall at the back. 1 14" deep by 48" wide colony style nesting box in the coop. There is no issue of them laying, we just had a max day of 10 eggs from 13 birds that are still just shy of 7 months and our daily average has been 6 for 5-7 weeks AFTER their move to this new coop situation 6 weeks ago. They are feeding, watering and laying in the coop. They just aren't sleeping in it at night.
I have inspected the perimeter of the entire coop and run and see no indications of anything trying to get in. It's been cold and wet for over a week and any predator would leave muddy footprints. Over the last 16 months of living on this property and walking it multiple times a day, I feel we are relatively low population of racoons and possum.
I've intentionally stirred up the bedding and used a flashlight to observe the dust...it clears in what I think is an appropriate time leaving no long lasting cloud. Even in the week of mostly cloudy, rainy and generally damp conditions, I can walk into the coop and feel like I'm in a dry environment.
There are two, 8' roosting bars set at 24 and 36 inches off the floor. The roosting box is set so it's top is 18" off the ground. They are laying in it fine and not roosting on top of it.
I just went down there 30 minutes ago, well after dark and all of them are clustered near the front of coop, most laying on the ground, 2 sitting in their doorway to the coop and 2 on the hinged door. I didn't not have my phone with me, so no pic.
We are dropping into single digits Sunday night and I will physically place them in the coop Sunday afternoon and shut them in.
Otherwise, I'm at a loss. Here is a pic of the inside of the coop from my access door. Their door to the run is to the right. I had just added the square pan in the middle there with some sand and generic kitty litter. It's been so wet they have lost their natural dust baths outside. The roosting issue has predated this addition. I had added a 2' long swing roost in the middle of this space but took it down thinking maybe they didn't like it and weren't roosting because of it. I also had 2 8' roost bars in the run and another 2' swing. 5 nights ago, I realized they were roosting outside instead of inside and after reading other threads, removed all roosting options but the ones inside the coop. 2 days now of no other options and they're camping on the ground...