9 week old chicks not going into run

[TucksClucks]

Hi - I am a newbie to chickens. We moved our 9 week old chicks from the brooder to the coop/run a few days ago. I am in California so it is still warm. We have 4 chickens in a 5'x5' coop with an attached 6'x12' run. The chicks will only go in the run when we are in it with them. The food and water is in the run. The coop has pine bedding, a few low boards for roasting, and the nest boxes are blocked. Do I worry that they are not in the run? Do we close off the coop during the day? I kept checking on them to make sure that they eat and get water. Thoughts?

 

[sourland]

Give them time- chickens hate change and take time to adjust to changes in their environment. I would continue to monitor their feed and water intake.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum, glad you joined!

How long has this been going on? Sometimes when I open the door to let the chicks out of my grow-out coop they are all on the ground in 15 minutes. Sometimes it takes 3 days before they all hit the ground for the first time.

I have food and water in both the run and the coop while you only have them in the run, that's one difference. Yours apparently know where the food and water is. In your place I'd leave them alone and let them figure it out. There are plenty of people on this forum that would be helping them out. Either method can work. At the end of the day it will not matter.

the nest boxes are blocked.

Why? What do you gain by doing this? You probably read to do this on this forum.

I do not block mine off. The main concern I read about on here is the fear they will try sleeping in the nests. If mine are going to sleep in the nests I want to know early enough so I can train them to sleep somewhere else before I get poopy eggs.

 

[Crazy Chicken Keeper]

I'd leave them to it to be honest. Keep an eye or two on them, see what happens. If they haven't moved around after that, they probably like the coop. What kind of brooder did you have them in as chicks?