Problems with chicks in outdoor pen

[llvonn]

Hi, I have decided to move the chicks into an outside pen. Up until now I had been bringing them in at night. The outside pen is not really accessible for me, I can access the coop and a small area I put the food and water in. It was the choice of a smaller coop I could access or the bigger one with more room.
I put the chicks in the coop and they ran outside and have a nice safe area to wander (protected against neighbours cat and my dog). Problem is they are now very vocal - constantly cheeping. They will not go inside and are just standing out of reach. I did manage to grab one, put it in the coop, but it just ran directly outside. Not sure what to do?
Once it got dark managed to traumatically transfer the chicks to the coop via a box. They did not appreciate being shoved in the box (quite clearly voiced their outrage), but stayed in the coop once I put them in. Noise did go down a bit. tried to put them on the perch but that was not successful (they fell off).

[nhb]

I would leave them in the coop, for a couple of days. Then let them out an hour or two before dark. All things being equal, hopefully they should head back inside before it gets dark. As older hens do. I don't know how old your chicks are, but do they need to be on a perch at this stage.

[llvonn]

I ended up grabbing them and placing them in the coop. They seemed to stay in their, walked past their food on the way out and complained that there was no food available.
Had to catch them again tonight and placed them in the coop. Hopefully they will figure it out.
annoying having to cage them up to avoid neighbouring cats which I do not want on my property.

[nhb]

How is your chicks problem working out, as in them heading inside by themselves, for the night. I hope your problem has been solved

[Marina]

HI Ilvon, I, too, hope you have solved your problem. If not you could check for mites in the covered part. That's one possible reason why they may not like to roost there.

[llvonn]

I have tried putting them in at night - but it is a real fight as I do not have ready access to the entire area. I managed to put them inside the first few nights, but now they are sitting in the corner away from the door - so I can't access them and they will not come. They have a bit of a problem roosting on the perches (not sure why as I caught them perching on the top of the inside box a few weeks back). They happily stayed inside once all of them were there and it was nightime.
The are sleeping on the ground in the corner. It is quite warm outside so I am not too worried. They know how to use the ramp. I tried putting one in the house to see if they would go in, they walk to the door, but will not go in.
At this stage I am not worried. They are in a very protected area as they are under a tree and well out of the wind, and won't get too wet if it rains - which it hasn't of late.
If we get really bad weather, I will cut another hole in the cage and see if I can get hold of them that way.
I can't let them run free at the moment as they are still small enough to get through a few new holes in the fence and we have dogs on the other side.
marina - i have 3 chicks, at least one is female - not sure about one, but pretty sure that the other is male. Unfortunately, no faverolles.

[Marina]

Hi Ilvonn,

that's good news that you have 3 chicks. More would have been better but there's nothing you can do now.

Orps don't like to roost when they are young but they'll learn eventually. One evening they'll sit on the roost.

[llvonn]

Hi Marina
My faverolle sits alone in the peach tree at night (the other hen is sitting somewhere unreachable on unfertile eggs under the deck), unless it is raining then she heads inside. She is also spending time roaming around the chicks pen trying to get at the chick starter They are loving the sprouted grains though - given a choice between crumble and sprouted grains - they go for the grains. I have one blue, the other two are black with white dots around. I am not sure if I have 1 or 2 roosters - but there will be months before they start crowing so I will wait until then. I'm just not sure when they will be big enough to not have to worry about the neighbors cat.

[Marina]

It depends on how hungry the neighbour's cat is. Here where we live bantam size is fine - at about 4 months old.

[llvonn]

A little while longer then. They are doing well now. I actually saw that cat stick its head in through my door, look at me and my dog and then back out very quickly.