Chickens won't go in the coop

[Jesse Lee]

Hey there BYC world,

I have three chickens, 2 Easter Eggers and 1 New Hampshire Red. Lately they have been perching up on my back porch huddled together and will not return to the coop at night time. We let them free range in the day time but due to predators I really want them to go back in to the coop at night. We have lost 2 girls in the past year, 1 to a raccoon and the other to a hawk, after the hawk came into the yard the girls seem to be scared to go back to the coop. I don't really mind having them up on the porch (although cleaning up chicken poop every morning isn't great) but it's not safe enough at night time. Are there any ideas or suggestions on how to get them to start returning back to the coop at night?
Thanks.
-Jesse

 

[junebuggena]

How old are they? You might need to keep them in for a couple days so that they learn where 'home' is.

 

[curious chickee]

I fed mine treats inside their coop at dusk then locked them in so they would settle themselves down in the coop, after doing this for a few days then began going to the coop on their own

 

[Teila]

Hi Jesse Lee and welcome to BYC

You are probably right in that they have been scared by the Hawk and I agree with the suggestion of keeping them in for a couple of days and also the bribery with treats.

One thing that came to mind that I thought I might mention as it may be worth ruling out is that sometimes chickens are reluctant to roost due to red fowl mites coming out of the cracks and crevices at night and biting them.