Help!! I moved my chicks!!

[wmroth]

I moved my 10 month old Silver Laced Wyandotts to a different, larger coop and now none of them (total of 15) will go in to roost at night. I've had to carry them into the coop and place them on the roost for two nights now.....this is getting old already! Any advice on how I might remedy this would be greatly appreciated. Do I keep them confined to the coop until they willingly get on the roost?
Thank you.

 

[drlcb]

They are just having a case of culture shock/home sickness. They'll adjust. It won't hurt to keep them cooped up for a few days and let them sleep on the floor unless you want to establish a routine of manually roosting them every night! Just make sure there not standing in wet areas or poop. Chickens are pretty resilient creatures and they will depend one you to roost them if you keep it up. They roost by pecking order. Mine generally will not roost at all unless the dominant hen goes first... Then they all seem to have a favorite spot and the pecking order definitely is in play at bed time... The most dominant roost higher.

 

[drlcb]

Sorry double post... I hate satellite Internet!

 

[wmroth]

Thank you so much for your reply; it was so informative. I did not realize chickens follow a pecking order when roosting, but this makes sense. We're going to follow your advice and keep them in the coop today (the rooster is protesting). Keeping our fingers crossed that they're quick learners.