moving to coop

[mrscrabtree92]

in about 2 weeks we will be moving our 4 girls to their coop, I read that they need to be "confined" to the coop for 3 or 4 days then let out in the run and they will learn to go back into the coop. if this is true where do you keep the food and water? and our coop is attached to the run and they cannot get out of the run at any time unless we open the door food and water will be kept outside so how is the best way to move them to the coop?

 

[cavemanrich]

Skip the 3 or 4 day confinement. Just put them into coop at night. Next morning just open coop. They will come out on their own. At evening, just put them into coop manually. You may be surprised that they go into coop on their own after just one night.
WISHING YOU BEST and

 

[mrscrabtree92]

Skip the 3 or 4 day confinement. Just put them into coop at night. Next morning just open coop. They will come out on their own. At evening, just put them into coop manually. You may be surprised that they go into coop on their own after just one night.
WISHING YOU BEST and

awesome thank you!! will they walk up the ramp on their own? and also how is the best way to introduce new chickens

 

[MedSchlFarmers]

I had to physically place each chick on the roosting bars for 2 nights after dark. On the 3rd night they walked up the ramp and went the roosting bars at dusk on their own.

 

[cavemanrich]

Make sure you have some items like crates, boxes or such in your run. The new comers will be chased around and pecked on. They need a place to run away to and hide. Not sure of your setup, but integrating new chickens is best done if the new ones are separated with a see thru barrier like chicken wire for a while. In time they will get used to each other. I never did it that way, and never had much chasing. My run is crowded with interesting things, so chickens keep busy and are not bothered by new comers.

 

[mrscrabtree92]

This is our run, it has a swing in there and a rosting bar as well we are thinking aboht netting off the bottom of the coop and opening that up for them too

 

[Ballerina Bird]

awesome thank you!! will they walk up the ramp on their own? and also how is the best way to introduce new chickens

To answer your ramp question, sometimes they need a little help at first. You can use bricks or other blocks to put under the ramp to make the angle less steep as they are getting used to it. But they will figure it out eventually.

 

[cavemanrich]

This is our run, it has a swing in there and a rosting bar as well we are thinking aboht netting off the bottom of the coop and opening that up for them too

That is a great idea, as it increases the run size with little effort.

You can also initially make access to that area so your smaller young ones can enter, and the older large chickens cant. Use cardboard or something temporary to experiment with. If the young ones run in there, they will not be chased by the others. Easiest way is to limit the height. The older chickens will not go to extremes of crawling on their bellies to get to the new comers.

 

[mrv19]

Mine needed no help going in to coop at night. As the sun set, they went in

 

[kgb6days]

I physically placed ours in the coop for two nights. The third night I waited a little longer before I went out only to find they had already "gone to bed" on their own. All I had to do was close the door.