You can train your flock to go into the coop at night by using light. At dusk, turn on a little light within the coop. Something as simple as hanging a small battery powered torch from the coop roof should work. As it gets dark in your yard, the hens will be naturally drawn to the light and will return to the coop.
If your chickens are free-range and outside of the run, you'll probably notice that they'll start getting closer to their run and coop in the last hour before dark. This is because they'll know it's time to head in and they won't want to be caught out in the dark.
Chickens have poor night vision and cannot find their roosts in the dark. Adding supplemental light at the end of the day, allows no transition time for them to get positioned for sleeping. Sudden darkness can cause confusion, stress and possible panic leading to injuries.
Chickens will sleep for as long as it is dark. Most of the time, they sleep completely uninterrupted from dusk until dawn, no matter how short or long the natural night lasts.
On sunny days, chickens will position themselves to absorb the sun's warmth, and on cold nights, they will huddle together in a tight group to share body heat. Chickens can even slightly lower their internal metabolism to better resist cold snaps.
Chickens can recognise up to 100 faces
These faces included those of humans! Chickens even remember positive or negative experiences with the faces they recognise and pass that information on to members of their flocks.
But because your chickens won't, for the most part, be eating and drinking after dark, you can choose to have your food and water outdoors or in. It is done both ways. My personal preference is to keep feeders and waterers inside, if the coop is large enough to allow it.
Chickens can recognize up to 100 faces
These faces include those of humans! Chickens even remember positive or negative experiences with the faces they recognize and pass that information on to members of their flocks.
Chickens have mono-vision. The left eye is far sighted, and right is near sighted. This is the result of turning themselves in the egg so that the right eye is exposed to light through the shell, while the left is not, because it's directed toward the body.
Placing Your Feeders & Waterers
They function best if placed in the run instead of inside the coop. Chickens don't usually eat after they go to roost, which is about 30 minutes before dusk. The best place for your feeder and waterer is where your chickens spend the most time during the day.
Chickens don't sleep in a bed, on the ground or even in their nesting boxes. Where do chickens sleep? They prefer to perform a balancing act all night long on a stick elevated above the ground. This stick is otherwise known as a roost.
Chicken Hearing Range
They can hear sounds in the 10-12,000 Hz range, while the human ear generally hears sounds in the 20-20,000 Hz range, meaning that chickens can hear sounds that are inaudible to humans. And chickens have better hearing than humans below 64 Hz.
Chickens Know Who Their Owners Are
Chickens can recognize up to one hundred human faces. This means it doesn't take long to recognize who their owners are and who the nice person feeds them every morning.
Chickens are very vocal by nature and will most definitely respond if you were to engage them in conversation. Chooks are just like feathery little toddlers who just discovered the wonder of words.
Further to this point, it is only safe to leave your chickens unattended for three to four days if you have done the necessary preparation in advance, just like you would with any other pet, like a cat or a dog. Chickens are reasonably simply creatures that just need food, water and adequately secure shelter.
On average, most chickens will benefit from having two pellet meals a day. You can either give them this meal by hand or use a feed dispenser. To split up the meals, provide one small portion in the morning and the second portion in the evening.
In general, chickens go inside their coop around 15 to 30 minutes before sunset. It depends from chicken to chicken, but as chickens are creatures of habit, there won't be extreme differences between the time they go roosting.
A chicken will exhibit affection by scratching at your skin or rubbing its beak against your leg. Some chickens will also rub against your legs, try to get closer to you, and even lie right next to you. When a chicken gets close to its owner, it will start grooming. A chicken can even start grooming you.
And they apparently like beautiful humans. A 2002 paper found that chickens have the same preference for certain human faces as do humans, "keying in on things like symmetry" in features—one of the subconscious measures of attractiveness, Blatchford says.
They know their own names.
Not only can chickens recognise when their name is called if it is used consistently enough, they can also recognise the names of other chickens around them.
? Should chickens go out in the rain? Chicken feathers are somewhat waterproof, so letting them out is fine. Letting your birds out prevents overcrowding, boredom and the diseases that go along with a wet chicken coop.
Shelter from the weather is one of the most important things to provide for your chickens in winter. A combination of natural shelter (e.g. vegetation) and artificial shelter (e.g. the coop) will help to ensure your chickens feel safe and give them somewhere to stay warm during windy or rainy weather.
A chicken's body temperature lowers when it loses more heat than it can produce. Huddling together, holding a foot up to their breast, or puffing their feathers are all signs that your chickens may be cold.
While they may not seem like the most obviously affectionate of animals, most backyard chickens grow very accustomed to their owners, often delighting in being picked up, petted and talked to in a soft and gentle manner.