Chicks figuring out the coop?

[WakullaBrooder]

We bought nine 8 week old chicks this weekend. Our chicken pen consists of a run and a raised coop with a ramp from the ground up to the coop. So far I've had to go out a dusk each night and move the chicks from the ground to the coop. How long will it take for them to figure out how to go into the coop on their own. They're obviously physically capable because the fly up on the ramp and look in, but havent chosen to go in yet.

 

[sourland]

For some reason it takes chickens a while to figure out how to enter a raised coop. If there are other chickens there to show them the way, they learn sooner. Providing a wide, gently sloped ramp can shorten the learning time.

 

[3KillerBs]

Try putting a trail of treats on the ramp to get them accustomed to going up and down.

And be sure to put them in via the pop door and not the access door, even if it's awkward for you to get to.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How long will it take for them to figure out how to go into the coop on their own.

I run into that a lot when I move my chicks from the brooder to my raised grow-out coop. Even when I leave them locked in the coop section only for a week or more so they get to know it as "home", at night they try to sleep in a group on the ground under the pop door. Every night after dark I lock them in the coop until they get the message. They are easier to catch after it is dark. My typical broods are twice as many chicks as you have. And you are right, they are quite capable of going in if they want to, they just don't want to.

Each brood is different. With a typical brood in a couple of days a few start going in on their own when it gets dark and they are all going in after a week or so. I have had a few broods all go in earlier than that, a couple of times it took about three weeks for the last to learn to go in. If you are consistent they will learn to go in but I don't know how long that will take.