Adding new chickens to our flock-coop questions

[lexie1214]

We have 8 hens that are about 3 years old and got 7 new chickens 2 months ago (so now 8 week old pullets)
We built a bigger coop to house all the chickens and have been slowly introducing the chicks (look don’t touch) and now they are together during the day. We are planning to be out of town for a week ;someone is chick sitting) but wanted to get the chickens to share the coop. They’ve spent 2 nights together so far, but we keep having to chase down the pullets to get them into the coop. Not sure how to get them to go in on their own. The big girls go in fine. We have found them on top of the coop or in the trellis over our run. Any tips?
We have an automatic door that opens in the morning and closes at night.
Thanks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do the younger birds go in and out of the coop willingly during the day (to demonstrate they know how to access the coop)? Grabbing the chicks at dusk and stuffing them into the coop nightly should eventually teach them that that's where they should be - a little inconvenient but they'll learn from repetition.