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Teach Your Baby Chickens To Go Toward The Light

My chicks are starting to develop feathers, and this means they are old enough to live outside.

You may have heard that chickens automatically get in their coops every night. In the case of older birds, this is true, but chicks aren't born knowing where to go at night. This is especially true if you've kept your chicks indoors in a brooder. Plopping them outside one day does not guarantee they will know what to do!

I recommend putting the chicks inside their coop with food and water for a day or two so they can bond with the space. This makes them more likely to come back every night.

Still, the first few nights your chicks are living outside can be stressful for them. I often hear stressed cheeping when they don't know what to do. I used to put each one of them individually inside the coop, which worked only part of the time. I finally decided that if I let them figure it out themselves, they will learn the behavior a lot faster.

So, now I put a small lantern inside the coop at dusk. As it grows darker, the chicks gravitate toward the light. They all go into the coop by themselves -- a big accomplishment! Then I turn out the light and lock the coop door and things settle down pretty quickly.

It only takes me two or three nights before everyone is going to bed as they are supposed to!

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