Unsecure chicken perches

[ChrisEllis]

A few months ago we bought a new Polish hen...but she insists on living outside...she came from a place where she lived indoors constantly...and so there wasn't a seperate house to go in at night...so when we go to put all of our chickens to sleep and close up for the night...shes sitting there on top of the coop...and now one of our own hens we raised sits with her...Ive tried picking her off the coop and putting her down and making her walk in. And ive tried putting her straight in...but every single time she sits on top and im getting worried as its quite cold out.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

If she's safe from predators at night I wouldn't worry too much. All 6 of mine choose to sleep outside (in the WIR) and seem very happy with the arrangement .

[ChrisEllis]

They are definitely safe they have a 8-9 ft fence!! i just find it annoying i have to chase them in constantly, wont they be cold...they are polands?!

[Daphne]

Some polands do seem to make a habit of this. One of mine does it in phases and I find I have to put the bird back in for weeks before it gets the message. One summer I had my old orpington hen go up and keep the poland company (completely out of character) but the wise old hen would get off the run roof and put herself to bed before it got dark -I think she was trying to train the poland But of course it didn't work. They are hardy little birds, but personally I'd worry about them with their thin skulls and small frames on their own in sub-zero temps and anyway in my case they wouldn't be safe. I don't know if PatriciaW on here keeps hers out?

[Patricia W]

I'm looking out of the window now at 2 Polands sitting on top of the cube. They'd quite happily spend the night there ( indeed one did when I missed seeing her!). But I pick them up and shove them in the cube each night. It doesn't have a run so it's easy to do this.

 

Although we too have high fences, I know Mr Fox can climb, so I'm happier with them locked up.

[ChrisEllis]

Its so annoying...even though i know i put them in at night anyway...its just more hassle...was wondering if anyone just had tips or tricks on how to make them go in etc.

[Plum]

My introduction house is just off the ground and all 3 lots of new chickens have been used to going up to bed so all my new hens have tried to roost on top of the house. This time I solved it by raising their house up so they have to leap up to bed.

Perhaps you could try that Bit of work but it worked for us.

[karlotta]

All five of my polands plus a couple of copy cats do this every night... I just pop them in when I go and shut everyone in/collect feeders etc!