Suggestions please - they won't go to bed anymore

[Apple Betty]

I've never had a problem with my girls & boy taking themselves into their house every night. However since I cleaned their house on Sunday with ***** (we had a little mite problem) they don't go into their house at bedtime, just all huddle together on their pallet shelter. I'm assuming they didn't like the smell but it's gone now (as have the mites) but they still won't voluntarily go in.

They do slowly go in if I prod them off the pallet but so far it's been light enough to see what I'm doing and if they get into this habit when it's dark,wet and/or cold I don't want them sitting outside and obviously from a foxy point of view I want them indoors.

Has anyone had a problem like this and if so, what did you do to encourage them to go in voluntarily? Any suggestions/solutions gratefully received.

[di]

They may have memories of the mites,if they think they are still there it could cause them to be hestant going in.

We are(hopefully)finally free of mites,hate to say it but for us just ***** fluid didn't get rid of them.
We moved them all into a new coop & gave it a really good spray with Poultry Shield,a week later another spray & painted the whole inside,then today I gave it another spray just to make sure before moving them back in.
I know obviously not everyone has access to an extra coop,but you can spray first thing & the chooks can go in for bedtime,but you definately need to repeat the process a week or so later to get the newly emerged mites.

Could also be that the weather is much warmer?
Hope they start going to bed for you again soon.

[Apple Betty]

I've ordered some Poultry Shield off t'interweb which hopefully will come tomorrow with the intention of spraying at the weekend.

I did wonder about the weather but they didn't do it when we had a hot spell before which is why I thought it was the ***** smell.

[RichmondHens]

As Di says, possibly memory of mites or a combination of that and the new smell. Is there adequate ventilation in the hen house? Some hens just prefer to sleep outside in warm weather and will return happily once it cools down a bit. Continue to put them to bed as you are doing.

I have had incidents in the past when one or two birds have chosen to roost in trees or hedges rather than go in the hen house. If accessible I have climbed up and got them down and put them in the hen house myself. If not i've left it to chance. It's not the night time that they are vulnerable as they are safe in trees, but early in the morning when they decide to come down, about 4 or 5 am, just about the time Mr Fox is about.

[Suechooks]

I've started spraying the ends and underneath of the perches with Poultry Shield every morning when I poop pick. Also have mite powder in and under the nest boxes and feed the chooks some garlic powder every day - it stops fleas in dogs so thought it might have same effect on red mite as they are blood suckers too.

[Flummery]

I use ***** in my regular scrub out of the house. I rinse it off well and leave to air dry and then dust the house liberally with anti red-mite powder (which smells rather nice!) I doubt the ***** is the problem. They just don't want to risk going in there again. Maybe lifting them in at night for a few days will help break the cycle?

[matthew2riches]

I've had birds that'll sleep outside because of the horrible hot humid weather.

It's up to you but if they are sleeping outside just watch out for Mr Fox!!!!

[Apple Betty]

Lost 2 of my girls ....

Thanks for your replies folks.

Have just been on hols for a week but I lost 2 girls just before we went - and I feel so guilty. I did their house with a mite killer spray and I also got a spray on hen mite deterrent which I sprayed them all with. The two that died went downhill quite quickly, lost the colour in their combs and were very subdued for a day or two (not at the same time) and were dead in the morning. All I can think of is that they either inhaled the spray (the hen one not the house one) or the mite infestation was worse than I had realised. Whichever the cause I feel it was my fault/bad hen husbandry.

However I do still have two very perky hens and a very randy cockerel so I think I may have to get him some more wives - and I am spraying their house on a weeky basis!

[frias]

Oh no, so sorry to hear you lost 2 of your girls. I hope you have now got the problem under control. I've never used a spray but if you followed the instructions it should have been OK. I put powder all around the house and also Diatoms in the dust bath.

[Suechooks]

So sorry to hear that AB. Don't feel guilty though - hens do this sometimes so it probably had nothing to do with your treatment.

[MaureenHall]

Betty I'm so sorry you lost your 2 girls. If it was mites, then it did happen much quicker than I would have imagined, but whatever it was, please don't blame yourself. It's good that the others are fine, and I'm sure they'll all be very happy to welcome some more laydeez into the flock