Chicks won't come in on their own at night

[AngieDawn]

Weather got really nice so we have been letting our 4 1/2 week old chicks into their outdoor run. They love it. They are in and out all day long. We herded them in at last light the first night. Last night we let it get dark and had a light in inside so they could find their way in. We found them huddled in a pile outside and had to pick them up and put them in. Will they learn to go in on their own? I thought it was kinda a natural instinct.

You can try encouraging them with a treat. Mine love mashed hard boiled eggs and would jump into a raccoon mouth for them.
if that doesn’t work I would keep doing what you are doing They will eventually get it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm curious if you've tried this with chicks this age. It's been my experience that chicks may be familiar with the inside of the coop, but when they are out in the run, the coop doesn't look the same to them, but alien.

Chicks just haven't developed those advanced thought processes yet. They need physically to be put through the coop pop hole repetatively to make the cognitive connection unless they've been brave enough to explore the coop on their own. Even then, I haven't had any chicks of mine make the connection that it's where they should sleep at night unless they're taught.

I locked my first group of chicks in for a week or so out of necessity. At the time they were 5 weeks old. I'd originally wanted to move them out at 6 weeks but then life happened and the run wasn't yet secure enough, so I had no choice but to leave them cooped up until I could finish securing it.

When they were finally able to access the run, they were of course at first nervous to come out, but after a day of exploring they went back and huddled in a corner of the coop.

One possible difference was my coop at the time was a prefab that was very open (so no enclosed coop with a mini run, rather it was all one unit, like a mini run with roosts) so the chicks could see the outside world for the whole week they were in there. Also both food and water sat just inside the door, so they learned to hang around the entrance of the coop to eat and drink even after the run was available to them.

I also never taught them to roost. I ended up adding 2 more chicks at 7 weeks of age and those 2 taught the others how to roost.

Subsequent group of chicks learned to go into the coop and roost by following what the adults are doing. Hoping my current batch of chicks can learn to do so even faster than previous group.

 

[azygous]

That's some amazing and very useful information @rosemarythyme . Something very similar happens, and is currently underway, when my chicks have fully integrated and they are allowed to mingle with the flock while the run doors are open. Usually, it's taken past chicks a couple weeks to screw up their courage to venture out of the run, which is covered and looks a lot like a huge coop, with two pop holes and a people door.

The four-week old chicks I have now, ventured ouside on the day after they were allowed to explore the entire run, and they managed to find their way back inside after each adventure. I plan to move them into the coop this week. I am interested now to see if they will be as precocious about going into the coop at night.