I find that the nest makes a lot of difference. I’ve seen a hen get her newly hatched chicks out of a ten foot high hayloft. The hen flies down, says jump, and they do. Then they hop up and run to her. I don’t advocate having the nest ten feet high, but a nest up off the ground doesn’t concern me nearly as much as it does some people.
When my broodies bring their chicks off the nests, they generally don’t go back to the nest at night but instead take the chicks to a corner of the coop floor and spend the night there. I have a couple of nests with the bottom of the openings maybe a foot off the coop floor. I have had a few hens take their chicks to those nests, usually not the one they hatched in interestingly. It’s amazing how well those chicks can jump up there just a day or two after they hatch. Sometimes not all of them make it up there though. Occasionally some of them, and it’s not always the late hatchers, for whatever reason, just can’t make it. When that happens, usually the hen brings the others off the nests and she takes them all to a corner of the coop. One time I did have a broody that did not bring the others back out to join the ones on the coop floor but left the chicks chirping. I caught the chicks and put them in the nest with her. The next night they were able to jump up there. Practically all my broodies take care of stuff like that on their own, but it is a good idea the first few nights to check up on them at bedtime.
Where the nest makes a difference. When the first chicks hatch, they many like to climb up on Mama’s back while she is hatching the later eggs. I guess kids get bored with not a lot to do. My nests are 16” x 16” and are closed in on three sides with a fairly high lip across the front. I never have problems with chicks falling out of those. It just doesn’t happen. But one time I let a hen hatch in a nest made from a kitty litter bucket, open at the top all around. It was about 9-1/2” x 11-1/2”. The hen was tight in there, close to the edge all the way around. I had a chicks climb up on top of the hen and fall off, landing outside the nest on the floor, maybe three feet down. The chicks were not hurt at all falling that far but they could not get back up to the nest. I picked several up and put them back with the hen. When that hatch was over, I got rid of that nest. If your nest is tight, having it up high can be a problem, but if it is roomy, it is a lot less likely to be a problem.
Something I saw last year for the first time ever. A hen hatched and kept the chicks in the coop for about five days before she finally took them outside. Usually a hen takes them out on the second day or so, but each hatch is different. I keep food and water where they can get to it in the coop when I have very young chicks. My pop door is about a foot off the top of the bedding but I have a stairway made of pavers inside and out to help the younger chicks negotiate the pop door. When that hen finally took her chicks outside, one did not go with her. I don’t know why. The chick looked healthy and seemed to move around fine, but for whatever reason it would not go out that pop door. It just stood around constantly giving that plaintive distress peep. I imaging Mama finally got tired of waiting on it and for their health just took the others outside, ignoring that chick. I left the situation alone.
I had other hens going in and out all the time laying eggs. I fully expected one of them to kill that chick since it was right in their path giving that cheep. But no, they all left it alone. It was about five days old when this started and it stayed in the coop away from the broody all day without any extra heat or care. When the broody brought her other chicks back inside for the night, that chick would join them. It took about another week for it to finally follow her outside.
I did not expect that chick to make it, thinking something was wrong internally. But once it finally started going outside it grew and developed fine. I did make sure it never joined my breeding flock when it grew though, just in case it was something genetic. If they don’t act right, they don’t breed in my flock.
I have no idea if your elevated coop is going to be a problem with the chicks or not. They should be able to maneuver on your ramp without a problem unless you have a really steep ramp where the adults have problems on it. But you are dealing with living animals. They don’t come with guarantees. Just because they should be able to use your ramp doesn’t mean you don’t need to be out there when they go in for the night the first couple of times to make sure they do actually use it.
