Last year the girls started going into the coup at bedtime around the middle of September. At the moment they are still roosting on the high perch and I lift them down each evening and shut them in the coop. On a few cold days the bantys have gone in the coop themselves but the big girls haven’t.
I thought about what is different this year to last year and there are quite a few differences. It hasn’t been as cold as last year and recently has been exceptionally warm for this late in the year. Last winter we still had Treacle and as top hen she made sure everyone went into the coop at the beginning of the cooler weather. Now Pepper is top hen and seems to like staying out.
Another difference is that there is a high perch which they like to roost on. We put in the high perch as a place the bantys could escape to when the big girls were bullying them. They never used it as an escape though and during the day I have never seen any of the girls use the high perch. They use the branch perch in the garden part of the run. They only ever use the high perch at bedtime so I think it must feel like a safe place to roost. The answer therefore, seems to be, to remove the high perch.
Today we have taken the high perch away and I removed my little chair that hung under the roof and stored it in the shed for now. I want to see if this will cause the girls to decide that going in the coop will be a better option. It may take a few evenings but I am hopeful that it may just change their bedtime routine.
At dusk it was complete chaos and confusion. Honey was the first to go to the coop roof then the cabinet.
Honey is first to the top of the store cabinet
I love those comedy feet with her crossed legs and a look of confusion!
The three big girls go to the coop roof
You can see Honey in the background looking for the little chair which is where the bantys liked to sit.
Bluebell on the cabinet
Bluebell is next across to the cabinet and is also looking for the little chair, she also liked to sit there, to stop the bantys sitting there! You can see the hook where the chair used to hang.
Honey decides to go into the coop
There is a lot of jumping back and forth from the cabinet to the coop roof and Honey gives up and goes into the coop.
Dotty is looking for the high perch
Dotty spent a bit of time looking for the high perch and you could almost read their minds saying “where has the chair gone?”, “where has the perch disappeared to?”.
Back to the coop roof
Pepper, Bluebell and Amber were back on the coop roof. At this point Dotty didn’t seem to know what to do next and suddenly launched herself from the cabinet to my shoulder.
At this point I decided it was time to put the girls in. I put Dotty in, then Pepper. Amber jumped down and went in by herself. I put Bluebell in and Pepper came back out. I waited a few minutes and Pepper went back in.
I knew the first evening was going to be confusing. I just hope when they realise that this is how it is now they will start going in, especially if it turns colder as it is forecast to do soon. They don’t like change but hopefully will get used to it soon.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I love the pictures in this post. I can perfectly visualised the confused chickens trying to comprehend what has happened.
I know what you mean. It was so funny because I know they don’t think in the words that we do but you could see on their faces that they couldn’t work out where the little chair and the high perch had gone. That’s why I took my camera. They each and every one of them did the same repeated thing. looking at the hook where the chair used to be then looking at the space where the perch used to be. Dotty launched herself on to my shoulder from quite a distance and I think it’s because she felt confused and sees me as safety. That was when I thought it was time to end the confusion for one evening. It will be interesting to see what happens tonight.
I agree with Steve these are great pictures .I must admit mine don’t like change of any description ands it takes them ages to get used to something missing or that is different.
You are so right, they do not like change. Tonight we went through the routine again. All of them in turn looking for the chair and the perch. You could read their confusion, they couldn’t understand where these had gone. I wonder how many evenings it will take before they stop looking and they say they have short memories, not so sure about that.