Chickens won't leave the coop

[Debo's Chickens]

Quick re-cap of my story: I have a small house on a 1/4 acre lot in a suburban area. I got a coop, run & 3 chickens in September. The chickens were about 4 months old when I got them. They all turned out to be roosters (not allowed in my city & I want eggs anyways).

So, a week ago, I brought them back to the guy I got them from & he traded me for 3 hens, all 9 months old. My coop is 2 stories: roosts & egg laying area on top; food, water & access to the attached run on bottom. Since I've brought them home, they spend most of their time in the top area of the coop. It was really rainy the first few days, but it's been nice & sunny the last couple of days & they still don't seem to want to be in the lower area or run. I've seen 2 of them in the lower area more, at least once a day. But I've only seen the 3rd (a RIR) in the lower area once all week. And when she did go down, she seemed quite alarmed & was making very loud clucky/crowy noises. That was at least 3 or 4 days ago. I haven't seen her down once since then.

I'm really worried, because how can they be eating & drinking enough? The roosters I had for 2 months ate all day long, foraged around my back yard & hardly stayed in the coop during the day. I put some cooked oatmeal in upper part of the coop day before yesterday, but didn't put anything up there yesterday, and I still never saw the RIR come down. I guess I'll put something up there for them today; I don't want it to die. But I don't want to "coddle" it too much either. Will it never get the motivation to go downstairs if I keep giving it food upstairs?

Does any of this sound normal? Does it typically take this long for hens to adjust to a new home? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[crazyhen]

Sometimes it takes hens a week or two to calm down enough to come out. My brahma run back at every new sound.. If they are hatched there it is different but moving after starting to lay is very hard on them. Jean

 

[Debo's Chickens]

ok, well I'll give it another week then. I changed their bedding today & put a small dish of food & water in the upper part of the coop. The Red stayed up there all day, but the other two came down for a few minutes (the other two are a Black Australorp & a Barred Plymouth Rock).

 

[Omran]

That is normal, don't worry and try to givethem some treats like chees I bet they will start to becaome your best friends.

Omran.

 

[Debo's Chickens]

Quote:
ok, good. That is kinda what I was thinking w/ the oatmeal, so I'll keep giving them little treats, as well as some pellets. I just started some seeds to sprout yesterday for them too.

Patience is not one of my virtues

and the roosters just acted so different. I guess I expected the hens to act similarly, but I've been doing some other reading on the forum & it seems that it's normal for the roosters to have more personality & be more outgoing.

 

[ChooksChick]

Coddle them!

It's not going to be permanent, but it'll get them to trust you faster.

Grapes seem to be the quickest way to a chicken's heart!

 

[lovemychix]

My hens are obsessed with the babies I put in the next room and sit and watch them all day. They are so funny! So they stay inside all day.

 

[cmom]

I experimented with mine until I found out what their favorite treats were. Now every morning when they see me, they come running for their treats. They may take a while to get comfortable. Are you geting any eggs? It may take around a month. They like rituals, so I do the same things about the same time every day.

 

[greyfields]

It sounds like the change in scenario is causing problem....

... but sometimes, your chickens can be telling you something. I would be worried that a predator was nearby.

 

[Henaminute]

Thank you for asking this question nine years ago. I keep my water in the run, and the food in the coop. My Isa's won't go down for water, and my RIR won't go in for food. I gave in tonight and made sure both areas had food and water