The five pullets have settled right into their coop at the nursing home. They seem to be getting good care. I’ve stopped by a few times, and they’ve always had food and water, and their bedding is clean. It can be a tad boring in their run, so I brought them a present of a treat holder. I’ve left instructions for the staff to give them something fresh each day.

I’m still working on protocols for chicken care at a facility, and tweaking the housing so that the chickens will get consistent attention, and so that the residents can best interact with the birds. Fortuitously, a young man named Richard, who has just graduated from college and is applying to medical school, lives nearby and is home for the summer. He has volunteered to work with a few of the clients, bringing them outside to engage with the pullets. He has a scientific mind and will be attempting to quantify how having these animals affects the lives of the residents.

I taught him how to pick up a chicken, and how to teach them to come. When he’s there, the birds will be able to get out into a grassy, fenced area.

Notice the woman looking out of the window. She’s in the common room for the memory loss residents. Already the Director is noticing that they are looking outside more; the chickens give them something to think about and focus on.

Because of patient confidentiality, I can’t show photos of the residents. But, I’ll be posting more about this project, and the coop, in the weeks to come.

I am available to consult with other institutions to help them bring chickens onto their properties in order to enrich the lives of their residents. I also have an entertaining hour program about chickens geared for nursing homes. I bring a chicken! Please email me if interested.

Phoebe says that the nesting boxes are also climbing structures.

Getting in is a fun hop, but getting down takes some gymnastic skill.

It’s a good thing that refreshments are provided at this playground.

Phoebe is making full use of all of her housing options. She stays safely closed up in her hutch at night, and then first thing in the morning, runs down her ramp to join the hens. During the course of the day, Phoebe spends time inside the coop, in the compost pile, stretched out on the dirt, and uses her chosen bathroom spot in the corner (given the option, rabbits are very tidy about their business.) Lately, she’s been digging a hole, seemingly just for fun and to keep her toenails worn down. (The hole is not near the fence, so no chance for escape, but we’re keeping an eye on it!)

She also goes in and out of her hutch, where there is hay on the floor, both for eating, and because it’s not good for a bunny’s feet to be on wire. Phoebe also has a cozy box to sleep in. But, on nice days, she uses it as a sleeping porch.

You never know where you’re going to find her. (She does nibble on the chicken food, but the bulk of her diet is good hay, rabbit pellets and greens from the garden.)

From the comments, both in private emails and on the last post, it was clear to me that more needs to be said about roosting behavior for young chickens. Why won’t your pullets go into the coop at night, get up on the roosts to sleep like they’re supposed to?

Chickens naturally want to roost (unless they’re Silkies or heavy meat hybrids). Encourage this when they are very young. Here my 3 week old chicks are getting up on their “training roosts” and learning to balance and nap off of the ground.

Give the chicks a chance to explore the coop without old hens there to hassle them.

Once the chicks venture outside, you should provide roosts for them in their pen.

Although, they’ll also find other things to get up onto.

Given the opportunity, your pullets will find places to roost, whether designed for them, or not.

By the time they are feathered out and no longer need a heat lamp, they’ll want to roost at bedtime, too. If not, read yesterday’s post. Add to that list mites – these blood-sucking minuscule parasites live in the woodwork during the day, but come out at night. When the infestation is bad you’ll see them crawling on the roosts and on your birds. They can make your chickens’ lives miserable. I haven’t experienced it here, so I don’t have a FAQ for you, but I can tell you that you’ll have to thoroughly disinfect the coop, use chemicals on your birds, paint to seal the wood, and possibly redesign the coop to rid it of these pests.

But, I think that for most of you, if your pullets are showing normal roosting behavior outside of the coop, and yet you’re still not seeing them roost at night, you either have badly designed housing, or your older hens are intimidating the young ones, or there’s a combination of the two.

As mentioned yesterday, the coop should be inviting. It should have cool, fresh air, windows for light, and enough space to generously accommodate your flock. Space is often the key. Old hens do not want the youngsters on their turf. They don’t want to sleep next to them. They will not play “nice.” Expect that and design for it. Have roosts at different levels. Have more than 6 inches of bar space per bird. Have enough floor space so that the pullets can avoid the domineering hens by scooting around them. If a hen can block all access to the coop, or pin a pullet in a corner, then the coop is too small for your flock. If you have one truly mean hen (think Edwina when she was young) then remove her for a few days to give the youngsters time to become confident in their new surroundings.

If you don’t have old hens scaring the pullets, and they still aren’t roosting, you might be rushing things. They don’t start roosting until they no longer need the heat lamp. They don’t all start roosting at night until about six weeks of age. By ten weeks they should be up on the poles. The few laggard can lifted up and set next to the rest of the flock, and they’ll catch on quickly to the routine.

Chickens might seem dim-witted, but they do what they do for their own good reasons. It’s your job to figure out what those reasons are. It’s not complicated, but you do have to see the world from a chicken’s perspective.

The other day, right at dusk, it was pouring rain. It was getting dark and the pullets were still outside. My barn boots have big cracks in them, but I shoved my feet in them anyway. I put on my raincoat. I went into the run and, slipping and sliding in slick muck, I tried to catch the girls and put them inside. I wasn’t successful. All I succeeded in doing was giving them a pre-bedtime bit of exercise. At least I didn’t fall. I gave up, went inside, and changed my now muddy socks, all the while muttering, “fine, get soaked and die.”

Of course, they didn’t get wet to the bone. Or die. Of course, when it was really bedtime, they went right into the coop on their own. I should have known better. I do know better. Chickens will put themselves to bed. You don’t have to do anything.

They don’t all have the same schedule. The Old Girls make their way onto the roost well before the young hens even consider going inside.

Eventually, as dusk falls, the pullets slow down. It might even look like they’re going to spend the night outside.

They won’t. Before it is too dark to see their way, but not a moment before, they’ll go find their places on the roost. (I had to turn on the light to take this photo.)

If your hens aren’t going inside to sleep, my guess is, that like me on that rainy night, you set the bedtime too early. Have a bit of patience and they’ll toddle off to sleep, inside, on their own.

If they are sleeping all night outside, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it too dark in the coop for them to see the roosts? Chickens do not have night vision. They can’t see in the dark. If your coop doesn’t have windows, by the time they think about going inside, they can’t find their way. Some coops have ramps underneath the raised floors through which to enter the coop. Hens will get stuck there, in the dark, unable to see where to go.
2. Is the coop too hot? In extremely hot climates, it might have cooled off outside, but it hasn’t yet in the coop. A hen will not willingly walk into a stifling hot box.
3. Is there enough roost space so that the hens can choose their sleeping partners and jockey for roosting position?
4. Can your older hens get up to the roost? Buffy needs a low roost, but others want to be up high.
5. Is there good ventilation? Does the air smell fresh? Decomposing manure gives off ammonia. No one wants to sleep over the fumes.
6. If there’s a sudden change in your flock’s behavior and they refuse to go into the coop, perhaps there is a predator lurking.
7. Have your young chickens learned how to roost? Even if you didn’t teach them as chicks, they’ll naturally want to be up on a roost at night. Once in awhile, a young bird hasn’t figured that out. Three of my pullets stayed on the ground while the others found their places on the rungs. I gently picked them up and set them on a low roost. I did this for two days and by the third they were going up on their own.
8. If your hens are going inside, but sleeping in nesting boxes, read this.
9. Do you have free-ranging hens that prefer to sleep in trees? They will be taken by predators. They’ll need to be retrained.

For more about roosting, see the next post.

Rabbits do not have a bedtime. Unlike the hens, they see just fine in the dark, and like an evening romp.

But, Phoebe needs to be kept safe from predators, too I’ve been picking her up and carrying her to her hutch, where, like her predecessor, she gets a reward of one banana chip for being closed in for the night. Phoebe is beginning to catch onto the routine.