Getting Chickens To Go Back Into Their Coop?

[Alspal]

Keep the (new) birds enclosed in the pen for a couple of weeks until they get used to the coop. They will always go back to the coop then.

 

[Mamachic1967]

I take in cut up apples, seeds and all and they come running in for that! Works everytime now!

 

[akddr]

I shake a small container of bird seed that they know is a treat and they come running as I yell, chicken treats'!

 

[tiasmominral]

This is similar to what a couple of other people have posted, but here is what I do:

I use a Dickey's cup (from Dickey's BBQ, it's a very distinctively bright yellow plastic cup) and put treats in it. Usually one or more of the girls will spot it and come running. If they don't, I rattle the cup. THAT always gets them running. I toss the treats in the coop and they go right inside. Works every time!

 

[Mamachic1967]

I agree, they learn to recognize treats. Now when I take out treats, my naughty girl jumps on the tray of treats in my hand and has dumped it on me 3 times. She's a greedy one!

 

[Padfoot22]

I've had to start putting my girls in earlier than dusk now because we had a racoon attack last week just at dusk. It's proving to be very difficult. I was letting mine go to the coop on their own then went to lock them in just after dark previous to the attack. So now at first the mealworms worked but after a day or two they caught on and now one specifically won't come. Now none do. It's a real pain! We've tried other treats, scare tactics, and all kinds of running around. I don't want to lose another bird to a racoon.

 

[Merax]

I had slightly different issues. We bought six ISA Browns and my wife released them into the pen when we brought them home, not the coop.

First issue - the first evening only 3 found their way up the ladder into the coop. I just put the other three up there by hand, we didn't have any issues with them going up again.

Second issue - once there, they were sleeping on the floor of the coop, not on the perches. Also undesirable, a couple were trying to sleep in the nesting boxes. First night I figured that the perches were too high, so I lowered them. Second night, no takers. I handled this two ways. In the afternoon, we blocked off the nesting boxes. Then after dark I would go down and move the birds onto the perches. After a few nights 4 were on the perches but we had two holdouts. A couple more nights of shifting them and the got the message. Once they were sleeping on the perches we could reopen the nesting boxes.

 

[mishinraleigh]

Advice please – my seven chickens climb up to the top of the coop at sunset and stay there until one of us has to manually pick each up and place them inside the side door of the coop. They never go in by themselves. They free range all day. They have been locked in for several days before and it did not make a difference, they never go back in on their own.

 

[aart]

Advice please – my seven chickens climb up to the top of the coop at sunset and stay there until one of us has to manually pick each up and place them inside the side door of the coop. They never go in by themselves. They free range all day. They have been locked in for several days before and it did not make a difference, they never go back in on their own.

Welcome to BYC @mishinraleigh .

May take more than several days to 'home' them to the coop.
First thing to look at is, is there enough space and roost length in coop for 7 birds.
Ventilation is key too, they may prefer to be outside if coop is stuffy and lacking in fresh air.

More detailed info on your coop(size in feet by feet), flock(ages and genders), and climate/location might help find a solution.