Coop for 10-15 birds

[wicked92]

ours chicks are 7 weeks old. We ordered a coop and built it suppose to fit 10-15 chickens. I can't imagine full grown chickens living in this coop so we will be building a larger one in the near future. My question is how do we go about getting them in the coop at bedtime? Right now we have the coop in the chicken tractor with the door open so they can go in during the day if they want. It's quite a challenge getting them in there at bedtime
Thank you!

 

[Mr BrahmaRama]

The easiest way is to keep the locked in the new coop for about a week. This seems imprint the idea that the coop is home. It's still OK to let them out to roam a bit during the day, but they should spend a vast majority of the time in the new coop that first week.

I did this with my flock at about the same age (7 weeks). They all go back home just before dark, without fail.

Hope this helps.

 

[pjschubert]

I have 8 six week old Pekin ducklings and they follow me to their 10x10 pen. They love those dried bugs I buy. I shake the bag and they know and come running into the pen. I leave the pen door open as that is where their feed and drinking water is. The yard is large so they roam under the bushes for bugs and have 2 sm kiddie pools to play in. They are locked in their pen at night from predators. This is our first time raising ducks so we are in the learning process and having so much fun with them.