Coop behavior

[catdaddy66]

I have read by a few members on the BYC pages that they have a permanant coop and also a tractor/extra coop for other times of the year. How do chickens that learn one coop is home adjust to another coop(s) for shelter? Aren't chickens habitual creatures that dislike change? Won't one or more options confuse them rather than assist them? Are they territorial at all? Just wondering out loud...

 

[gritsar]

Chickens are creatures of habit. If they are used to being put up in a coop at night and then being moved to a tractor to spend their day, they'll go with it once it's become routine to them.
When I first moved my chickens to their permanent coop, after they had been living on our screened porch for 5+ months, they'd line up every night at the screened porch door. It took me forever to break their habit.

 

[chookchick]

I think they are using the tractors for other flocks, babies, etc...But like Gritsar says--they are really easy to train if you want to move them to a "day tractor". When my chicks are 4-6 weeks old, I load them up in the cat carrier every morning, take them out to a day run, then at night put them back in the carrier and back to the brooder. They pretty much load themselves in the carrier after a couple of days.