Chickens won't sleep inside?

[Eco]

I have 13 birds different breeds. The four polish and the two cochins always roost outside in the run. No matter how windy or pouring, sheeting rain they stay outside. They go in the coop to feed and lay but come dark they stay outside.
I have an automatic door that closes well after everyone is asleep but this traps half the flock outside, not that they care, they are very asleep by that point. I have been regularly going out at night with a headlamp and tucking chickens under my arm and walking them around to the door of the coop and tossing them in there.
The hope is that they wake up inside enough times they will figure out that they should have been in there in the first place. But alas every night they same six birds are looking pathetic asleep and buffetted by the weather. What gives? My concern is this winter here in coastal Maine when in one night we could go from warm, to drizzle, to freezing temps, and I will have dead chichensicles by morning not to mention preditors that get past the reinforced run in the middle of the night. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[chicmom]

How about throwing some cracked corn around, inside the coop at bedtime....or maybe you can lure them in with some type of irrisistable bedtime snack. If it works, do it every night, at appx the same time. They just need help in establishing a new bedtime routine that gets them into the coop.

I'm just curious, do you have roosts inside your coop? Is there room enough for everyone on the roosts?

 

[Eco]

I tryed drawing them in with treats actually, I drew everyone in including them but when they finished they just wandered out again. I thought about actuaiting my auto door after they are in but I don't have access to the switch from the outside. Once I put them in "close" to bedtime but wile they were still awake and everyone was very loud becuse they didn't know why the door was closed. The coop is 10 x10 and they are using only about ten percent of the three roosts that span the length of the coop (30' of roost).
As an aside It amazes me that after chickens go to sleep you can just stack them under your arm like cord wood.