Getting young chickens to go to bed.

[New ISA Brown Dad]

I have 9 young ISA Brown hens. They are 6 weeks old, mostly feathered, and have outgrown the 40 gallon feed trough I got to start them in. I live in Texas and it is still in the mid 70's at night so the 6 largest have moved out of the house and into their permanent backyard hope, a 10x10 covered pen with a large coop in it. Everything I have read told me that at night they would go into the coop on their own. Night two has found me in their pen moving them into their coop one at a time again. I am afraid I am going to hurt them because each time I open the door at the top of the ramp, the ones already in the coop try to exit while I am trying to put the next one in. This is a whole new flock that doesn't have any older sisters to teach them the ways of the chicken world. What am I missing?

 

[Pullet Press]

Welcome to BYC!
You could probably keep trying to put them up at night so they can get used to going into their coop. Don't take my word for it, though.

 

[Bird_Lover_17]

At first, they will not go in the coop by themselves. Just pick them up and place them on the roost.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Are you waiting til it is dark?

 

[CluckerFamily]

An hour or 30 minutes before bedtime, you may want to sprinkle some treats in the coop to get them to go into the coop and then shut the ramp.
The just need to be trained.

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

I have 9 young ISA Brown hens. They are 6 weeks old, mostly feathered, and have outgrown the 40 gallon feed trough I got to start them in. I live in Texas and it is still in the mid 70's at night so the 6 largest have moved out of the house and into their permanent backyard hope, a 10x10 covered pen with a large coop in it. Everything I have read told me that at night they would go into the coop on their own. Night two has found me in their pen moving them into their coop one at a time again. I am afraid I am going to hurt them because each time I open the door at the top of the ramp, the ones already in the coop try to exit while I am trying to put the next one in. This is a whole new flock that doesn't have any older sisters to teach them the ways of the chicken world. What am I missing?

I had to train my flock by turning on a light in the roost area. Mine was actually a heat lamp but 20-40 watts will work. Just enough to be brighter than outside.
After a couple weeks I would turn the light off after they settled. A few more weeks and they were ok by themselves

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of your set up would help.

How dark is it in the coop? Any artificial lighting or good sized windows? If they can't see inside, they won't want to go in.

How steep is the ramp? Ramps can be difficult to learn to use.

I handled my chickens differently from the start. My first chicks were locked inside the coop (as it was big enough and well ventilated enough to do so) for a couple of weeks before they were allowed into the run, which homed them to the coop without any effort from me.

 

[chickmamato7]

I went through this, too. It takes about a week before they all go in like clockwork on their own. Experienced chicken keepers will tell you to keep them locked in the coop for a few days to train them to it, but I didn't have the heart to do that. Instead I enticed them with treats and herded them into the coop each night, placing them one at a time into the roost area & closing the door between chicks to prevent escapes.

Placing a light in the roost area helps a lot & will draw them in on their own by day 2 or 3, but there will always be at least one that is fearful or gets lost and doesn't know how to find her way to the roost area. I just kept manually showing my lost one how to climb the ladder and by day 4 she had it figured out.

The first week in challenging, but it gets much easier as patterns are established and they understand what they are supposed to do.

 

[3KillerBs]

Are you waiting til it is dark?

I noticed that even after they knew to go inside the "teenagers" would sometimes stay out -- once even getting quite distressed about the fact that it was "suddenly" too dark to see.

I made herding sticks to help gently guide them inside.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-herding-sticks-d.1405967/

 

[21hens-incharge]

I noticed that even after they knew to go inside the "teenagers" would sometimes stay out -- once even getting quite distressed about the fact that it was "suddenly" too dark to see.

I made herding sticks to help gently guide them inside.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-herding-sticks-d.1405967/

Teenagers! Bunch of party animals!

I have been very very lucky with this group I have now. They are 6&7 weeks and go to bed about half an hour before dark. No adults in that coop with them.
I have had others that stayed out late in previous groups. With them if I tried before full dark they acted up.
It can get rather frustrating.