[Kiwi]

Our chickens have a lovely house with perches and beds and loads of lovely clean sawdust. They also have an apricot tree. We always leave the door to the house open and they come and go and lay their eggs in the beds. Tonight it is absolutely peeing down ( not cold) and they are roosting in the blooming tree  :shock: In future if the weather is bad should we put them in the house and shut the door so they don't get soaked?

[pushrod]

If you put them where you want them everynight for a week i usually find that they get the message, often the case when trying to get them to perch. I lock cockerels up at night as it tends to keep them a bit quieter in the mornings, otherwise they start crowing as soon as they see a hint of daybreak.

[Kiwi]

hi, thanks    we did do this about a month ago, we shut them in every night for about three weeks, thought they were in the habit then slowly but surely they went back to roosting in the tree! Which isnt a problem as we have no foxes or bad things for them here, but it was just so wet last night. Still this morning they are up as usual and none the worse for it.

[pushrod]

Can you block them from getting into the tree or maybe clip their wings?
Birds obviously can survive out in the cold and wet but i think they will remain in better condition if they roost in the warm and dry so if they were mine i would persevere with their education  

[Kiwi]

I agree completely. So yes, think they'll be getting shut in again at nights! Only good thing  -we're sub tropical so it never gets really cold at night - about 12 degrees - but I hate to think of them all soaking! poor things