I have a chicken run with a small coop sitting on top and a ramp to get up. My EEs have lived in there for a little less then a year and I put my Cochins in a week ago. The cochins will not go into the top and when I put them in they come right out. Which means.... they lay their eggs on the dirt in the run and they sleep outside. Will they learn?? They also have no idea how to roost and the few times I put then on one they jumped right off.
You might try keeping them confined in the coop for a week or so to let them acclimate and learn that it is "home". They sound disoriented.
I couldn't confine my last batch of Cochins in the coop because of my other chickens. So I would put them all (17) on the roost every night.....for over 2 weeks if you can lock them up, that would be easiest, or you could just put them inside on the roost when its dark. Good luck!
Sometimes they never learn. My chickens are over a year old, and they still sleep in the run. I tried for *months* to get them to sleep in the coop. I tried everything. Putting them in the coop myself, shutting them in the coop for a couple of weeks, lighting the coop gently so they could see at night, keeping the food and water in the coop, giving them treats in the coop. All to no avail. The idiots sleep under the coop.
