Bringing home started pullet advice?

Hi, newbie here. Bringing home my first flock of 16-week-old started pullets in 2.5 days and looking for advice on what to do with them once home. I'll be picking up 3 each of Barred Rocks, Orpingtons, and RIR. Should I lock them in the coop for a day or two? Have the chicken door to the run open so they can explore? Give them treats? Should I mingle with the flock or let them be on there own, etc? The coop is 6x8, water and food will be in the coop. The run area is roughly 14X16, enclosed with 1/2" hardware cloth and has a metal roof. Thanks in advance!

Lock them in the coop for a couple of days, so they imprint on the coop as home. Leaving them use the run is your option during that time. If you are going to free range then leaving them out in the evening at first is good so they learn the surroundings before the wander to far at first is good.

Den in Penn said:

Lock them in the coop for a couple of days, so they imprint on the coop as home. Leaving them use the run is your option during that time. If you are going to free range then leaving them out in the evening at first is good so they learn the surroundings before the wander to far at first is good.

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x2
Spend some time with them, yes! I would take a chair (or overturned bucket) and go sit out there and watch them be chickens.
This is also a good time to start working on teaching them to come to the call you want to use to get them back in if/when you let them out of the run at some point. Starting it while you have them enclosed is useful. It's super easy to teach them - just use treats and your call (I like to use an empty water bottle with a handful of grit - makes a great noise that really carries so if they are off a distance they hear it). Make the sound (either voice or bottle) and toss treat. Once they have gobbled that up, repeat. Then start putting some distance between you and the birds, make sound, toss treat - they come to you. After this foundation of sound= food is established you can use it to move your flock around, call them back to the run/coop after free range time, move them back to the area you want them in if they start to roam a bit too far, etc - it's a handy thing to have your flock know even if you don't *plan* to free range at any time as there are always things that can happen that would result in birds being loose and needing a quick easy way to get them back.

I'd leave them in the coop for a week at least to 'home' to the coop as their safe haven of shelter and sustenance.....
.......then let them into the run for another week and make sure they go into coop to roost on their own.

Then start free ranging, start late in day giving them only maybe an hour to range a bit and not too far before they are spurred to go in to roost at sunset.
Ranging earlier and earlier each day until they and you are comfortable that they know where 'home' is.

Is your coop a walk in coop so you can go in and sit with them?
Do sit in there as much as possible and just hang out or do a few chores.
Always move slowly and talk softly so they get used to your presence and not perceive it as a threat.
Offer treats from your hand, don't try to grab them or you might set things back.

Thanks for the replies and great info. Picked up the chickens today and the breeder said to leave a light on all night for the first few days. I have have a 13w CFL light in the in 8" reflector base. Is this too much light in my 6x8 coop? Should I go with a little night light? Thanks!

Update: The chickens were up at 11pm and weren't showing any signs of settling down for the night. I turned off the CFL and instead used a night light. At 2am everyone was asleep. Think I'll stick with the night.

I don't know what the breeder is thinking of. Chickens like us need sleep Having a light on definitely disturbs that sleep, as you have seen. I wouldn't even use the night light.

Den in Penn said:

I don't know what the breeder is thinking of. Chickens like us need sleep Having a light on definitely disturbs that sleep, as you have seen. I wouldn't even use the night light.

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x 2 -- did they offer any reasoning when they made that statement, OP?

Breeder said everything will scare them at this point, including the dark and the noises associated with what darkness brings. She said to use a light to help them get use to their surroundings. Chickens are 15 weeks old and have never been outside yet so she said everything will freak them out. I must say after having them for 60 hours they seem adjusting just fine.