Any advice welcome!
4 girls arrived yesterday and this morning won’t get out of the coop.
The food and water is in the run should I put it in the coop?
I encouraged them out and a few are happy out there but 2 keep jumping back inside!
Usually, battery hens have never been outside their cage, much less outside on grass or in a large run. Some chickens are just slow to leave their comfort zone. If a couple are exploring already, it shouldn't take the stragglers too much longer to get curious.
If the 2 staying inside aren't eating at all, you could put just a tiny amount of food in the coop to encourage them to start eating, then they might just want more and get brave enough to venture outside. I prefer not to keep food and water inside the coop.
I think a lot of battery hens are slightly agoraphobic when they first encounter the wider world. Also bear in mind they will not necessarily know what is good to eat and what isn't so some limitation of what they have access to initially might be a good idea. Crop problems can arise very easily for ex confined chickens exposed to lots of grass and plants.
Trying to match the feed they got fed on before can help. Generally feed changes should be made gradually.
Ex battery hens will not have built up any tolerance to the pathogens you have in your location. While they may have received various treatments for coccidia for example you may have a different strain and they will have no immunity to this.
It took a while for the rescue hens I've had here to learn about dust bathing. I was fortunate in that they could observe other chickens doing this and got the idea eventually.
It takes time for such chickens to gain confidence in their safety in new surroundings.