chics wont go inside?

[new2chicstracy]

ok I am new to chickens etc... have plenty experience with most all other animals but feel clueless about my new endeavor---

I have 8 ---8 week old pullets---3-- 7 week old french gunieas and 2 --7 week old ducks and a 7 week old goose---


they have a good sized inside run with a mostly open south side as well as a more enclosed less drafty coop area and they are not going back into the coop area at all anymore..weather has turned not so nice and I am concerned it is too damp and drafty for them out in the run..

what am I doing wrong that they dont go there to roost --should I have a light or no light? should I force them in the warmer pen ?? the smaller pen is not crowded and they were there for a few weeks before they were let into the indoor run... any advice would be helpful and appreciated!!!

note ...it has been fairly warm here for a while but now down to the low 40's high thirties monday night....thought the sudden drop wouldd be a problem

 

[Wildflower_VA]

I have black australorps, which are very cold hardy, and they stayed outside in the cold rain when they were six weeks old. I tried to get them interested in their warm, dry coop, but they only went in the coop to sleep. I finally gave up trying to get them inside when it was cold, windy and wet, and they are very healthy nine-week-olds now. I had to assume their instincts would tell them to go inside if they were cold and uncomfortable.

 

[Karen09]

I have a silkie that my sister-in-law borrowed to be a friend of a silkie with a broken-leg that she is trying to nurse to back to health and now has returned to me and it will not go in the coop with the rest of the chicks who are 8 weeks old. I push and prod him/her to go in but 2 of the other chickens block his/her path sometimes. My husband went to lock up the chicks tonight and he used a lazer pointer and he/she ran in the coop quickly and the other 2 moved out of the way to avoid the lazer pointer. If I knew that that is all we needed to herd the animals in that quickly, we would have bought one sooner. If you feel it is too cold and wet and they might be sick if you leave them out in the run, you should coax them in. But if the run is protected and they don't mind the weather, they will be fine. Sometimes they don't know better and other times, they enjoy just being outside.