[Cryptogamix]

Hi! I wonder if there are people here (I'm sure there are) who are good on chicken psychology?

Our 5 chickens have stopped going to bed in their coop. They will sit on top, or anywhere else elevated but won't go in. I have been collecting them when they are roosting and placing them inside.

Firstly they stopped going anywhere near the coop and started roosting in my shed. They will generally follow me anwhere fo food, but they would stop about 20 yeards short of the coop as if something evil lurked there. Rats perhaps?  I stoppered up access to the shed, so then they roosted on a pallet leaned up against it. We took the pallet away and put the coop where it had been, but they still do not go inside.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

[twizzel]

Check the house for redmite- in corners, under perches, in nest boxes.

[macgro7]

Hi! I wonder if there are people here (I'm sure there are) who are good on chicken psychology?

Our 5 chickens have stopped going to bed in their coop. They will sit on top, or anywhere else elevated but won't go in. I have been collecting them when they are roosting and placing them inside.

Firstly they stopped going anywhere near the coop and started roosting in my shed. They will generally follow me anwhere fo food, but they would stop about 20 yeards short of the coop as if something evil lurked there. Rats perhaps?  I stoppered up access to the shed, so then they roosted on a pallet leaned up against it. We took the pallet away and put the coop where it had been, but they still do not go inside.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

My ones used to sleep on the roof during the heatwave. Perhaps that's what it is?
Or red mites as mentioned...

[chrismahon]

My immediate thought was as Twizzel, red mite in the coop. If that is the case they will have spread them to the shed, because not all the mites leave their host before morning. The usual place are the the joints between the perches and the walls.


Most effective treatment is a fine jet steam cleaner, repeated until you no longer find them under the perch. Paint the ends of the perch (and only the ends where the chickens can't touch it) with creosote, so the mite can't get past it and back to the coop. They will climb the walls and drop onto the chickens at night and then be trapped on the perch in the morning.


We were constantly having problems in our coops until we adopted the above method, because no other treatments are 100% effective. No red mite now for 8 years.


As said, it could also be far too hot in there because of insufficient ventilation. Rats are also a possibility, but they shouldn't be able to get in at night.

[Fleecewife]

Most likely to be red mite as everyone says. My hens are not remotely scared of rats but they are scared of stoats and weasels - is there any chance one of those could be squeezing into their house?
For red mite we have kept them at bay for several years by using a flame gun inside the house and out, nest boxes too (if there are cobwebs then the whole lot can go up  ). Once a year we creosote the house and the hens go to another house for a week or so. Our hen and goose houses are 6x8 garden sheds so wooden - obviously don't use a flame gun on a plastic shed.
If you think rats are the problem, stop them gnawing their way in by wrapping the house in small-hole chicken mesh.

[Richmond]

Definitely a classic sign of red mite infestation. Do as others have said. Also as an ongoing preventative puff copious amounts of diatomaceous earth (Diatom) in all cracks and crevices, and on the birds at night.