4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[The 3 D's]

Hi got my 3 buff orps on Saturday. There names are Honey, Willow and Maple and they are lovely. However, they are in a cube (new and never been used before) but they have trouble getting up there. In fact they dont/cant seem to get up there. Every night we have to pick them up and put them in there. Is this normal, does it take along time for them to get used to it? How can i make them get up there without putting them up there.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[clucky h]

Hello Matt

 

We don't have a cube but we do have a little wooden house on stilts, and the hens have to walk up a ramp to get there. It took them a few days to get used to it, but we found that if at bedtime we put each hen on the ramp and encouraged them to walk a few steps they very quickly caught on - in a couple of days - and now they nip in and out. Maybe yours would do the same?

 

If one is laying inside and something interesting happens in the garden, she comes sprinting out down the ramp at a real lick!

[jlo]

I don't actually have a cube but, when I was at the Ideal Home, I queried the bottom of the ladder. James suggested that some people put a flowerpot there to assist. I am sure that more experienced people will be along soon.

[Budgies]

I've heard of several people putting something at the bottom of the ladder and I've also heard of people holding their hens and gently "walking" them up the ladder. Apparently once you've done this they get the hang of things! I'd love to see it!!

[Janty]

I usually put a branch across the cube just behind the ladder. My cochins jump onto the branch and then up onto the ladder.

[Chucky Mama]

I am afraid I just went for the tough love approach and left them too it. They flapped their way up after several failed attempts. They still aren't that graceful when it comes to getting up and down after nearly a year but I think it is character building

No seriously, I didn't/haven't put anything there for mine to get in but they have devised various clumsy looking strategies for getting up.

[jenniewren76]

I've heard of several people putting something at the bottom of the ladder and I've also heard of people holding their hens and gently "walking" them up the ladder. Apparently once you've done this they get the hang of things! I'd love to see it!!

 

LOL this is how my Dad used to take me to bed... and funny enough I can get there myself now!!!!

Sorry just couldn't resist!!

 

They will get used to it

[Guest]

Hi

I think the thing with the cube ladder if it was completely on the ground when you move it it would drag on the floor but as I had a wir it was easier to make a long wooden ladder(just because I had butted the cube on the outside).

 

For the first couple of nights I did lift the birds in as they didnt know what to do, but thereafter they climb the ladder.

 

In the morning they all pile out or fall out literally all in a big bundle(no ladder required)

 

Some people do put a pot to help them go up but I think some of the bufforps due to their size can find it hard to begin with..I am sure they will be fine once they get the hang of it

 

indie

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I don't know how to "start them off", as my Orps came fully integrated with their !

 

They do still make a complete kerfuffle whenever they go in & out, I have a video of them coming out but I haven't managed to get a going in one recorded yet where the light is ok!

 

 

Sha x

[Barkisland]

My girls never got the hang of the ladder - and I don't do 'tough love' with animals

So OH made them a ramp - a plank of wood with a covering of mesh fixed to it - for them to walk iup and down. The coped with that OK, and still use it.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Don't have a cube either but when I made a ladder for my girls' WIR they took ages to get the hang of it . I had to prop it up on bits of log to make it less steep. Even now they sometimes jump to the top rather than walk .

[Falkor]

My Orps got are used to it now although still very ungracful

 

I started them off with a flower pot at the bottom of the ladder and I think I had to "put" them to bed for the first two nights but now they are in and out with a hop, skip, flap and a jump!

 

Matt...how old are your girls? This may be a factor.

[Egluntyne]

I have a tree stump at the bottom of my cube ladder.

 

It did take them a few days to get the hang of getting into the cube.

[atsw]

My Orps got are used to it now although still very ungracful .

Yes, Orps may be pretty, but graceful they are not !

 

My two still look very clumsy with the simplest of tasks, like getting on and off the bench in my WIR, or getting in and out of the dust-bath box. I think it's just their breed type. I'm sure they will get the hang of the ladder, it just might take time, and they will never look particularly sure they will make it .

 

Andrew

[Budgies]

Wildmum, that's so funny! I love the kerfuffle as a wee one rushes past a bustling Orp!!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I call mine the Dowager Duchesses, they are so ungainly and funny to watch...especially when they get a burst of speed up...but that never lasts long enough to get the video running

 

I did find one of my Duchesses, either Buffie or Willow, sitting on the back gate one day..and DD came running in at the weekend shrieking that Willow was trying to escape because she'd been scared by a friend's child & flapped up into the front fence, in the middle of the holly bush....so they can make it up the steps to the cube, it's just a case of convincing them that it's possible, I think their confidence is not as big as they are to begin with

 

Sha x

[Tulip]

I've heard of several people putting something at the bottom of the ladder and I've also heard of people holding their hens and gently "walking" them up the ladder. Apparently once you've done this they get the hang of things! I'd love to see it!!

 

Err yeah... that would be my big girls (Cinnamon's an Orp). They're fine with the cube ladder, just a little ungainly!

 

I'd start them off by creating a bottom step with a crate/flowerpot and see how it goes. If they still struggle, then try walking them up the ladder - if you can get hold of them

[Chook n Boo Mum]

 

I'd start them off by creating a bottom step with a crate/flowerpot and see how it goes. If they still struggle, then try walking them up the ladder - if you can get hold of them

 

...and if you can get close enough to the ladder to do the walking action without doing yourself a mischief My has the old style little door & is butted up to the WIR, so access to the ladder etc is nonexistent!

 

Sha x

[The 3 D's]

Success..they can now go up the ladder without any help. 2 days ago i went to help them get in and to my surprice they had gone in!! i couldnt believe it. Last night i watched them get up there and it was so funny. They were looking at the ladder for at least 15 mins and then one jumped up onto the first step and walked up there, and the other 2 flew up to the 3rd step and jumped in.

 

Now its time to start introducing them slowly. Read the post on intros so hopefully fingers crossed it will go ok

 

Thanks for all your posts everyone..will keep you posted

 

Matt