Free Range flock, won't go home at night, now 25 left

[BeckyinFl]

I had 38 pullets, about 3 months old. I live in the Deep South, it's not cold, they don't want to go in their very nice coop at all. They sleep on the back porch mostly. A raccoon came a couple nights and chased them around but didn't catch any. But then 25 of them left at once, and 1 more is missing a few days later and now I'm down to 12 and can't find the others. So the 12 are locked in their coop but now I'm not sure what to do long term and I'd like to get back the other 26 but it's been almost a week and none have come back. Any suggestions?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

It sounds like you need to lock them up for a few days. As far as finding the other 25 (if they are even alive) that may be hard to do. Are you in a wooded area?Also, what breeds are we talking about? Some are more inclined to want to sleep in trees and such. Lastly, could there be a reason they don't like the coop? I would check it out thoroughly, make sure something isn't harassing them in it, whether it's snakes, rats, or whatever. I had an owl that was coming by for a while several nights and scaring the crap out of my birds in the their coop.

 

[Howard E]

I had 38 pullets, about 3 months old. I live in the Deep South, it's not cold, they don't want to go in their very nice coop at all. They sleep on the back porch mostly. A raccoon came a couple nights and chased them around but didn't catch any. But then 25 of them left at once, and 1 more is missing a few days later and now I'm down to 12 and can't find the others. So the 12 are locked in their coop but now I'm not sure what to do long term and I'd like to get back the other 26 but it's been almost a week and none have come back. Any suggestions?

Can you provide a picture or two of your coop? I can think of a couple reasons why birds won't use a coop. One is they were not "homed" to it, so don't know where is home. A second is they found a place they liked better, which is another way of saying they don't like it, so are voting with their feet and going elsewhere.

So I'm curious to see what your coop looks like and can it be improved to be more to their liking.