Help! My 18 week old chicks will NOT go in to their coop!

[SheehanFam321]

Hi there! I need some help. I have 3 chicks (well I guess they’re not chicks anymore...they were when we got them) that are almost 19 weeks old.
We have 7 chickens that are a little over a year, and when we got the chicks we were hoping our broody buff Orpington would take to being their mama but unfortunately that did not happen. This is the first time we have ever had to integrate chickens into an established flock before and I think we waited WAY too long! Now they refuse to go in to the coop at night. Does anyone have any advice or tips on how to get them to go in there and integrate into the flock? We put them in the coop and they stay in the run full time with the other chickens, and for now it seems like they aren’t being picked on (they have been sleeping in the coop for over a week now) but when will they start figuring out their place and feel comfortable in their new home?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

How much room do you have in the coop (sq. ft)?

The only thing you can really do is to continue to put the pullets in the coop each night.
Each flock/group of chickens is different, it can take time to integrate. Once the pullets come into lay, they may be more accepted by the older girls.

 

[Duck Hill]

Maybe if you added a new perch? It may be that the other perch is a bit crowded (even though there is still plenty of room on it) and they aren't comfortable pushing in amongst the others.

 

[aart]

How much room do you have in the coop (sq. ft)?

Yes!...with pics, please.

Maybe if you added a new perch?

Yes...always best to have a separate roost for younger birds.

 

[SheehanFam321]

Welcome To BYC!

How much room do you have in the coop (sq. ft)?

The only thing you can really do is to continue to put the pullets in the coop each night.
Each flock/group of chickens is different, it can take time to integrate. Once the pullets come into lay, they may be more accepted by the older girls.

Hi!! Thank you so much for responding!
Our coop is fairly large. My husband built it from our kids old play house. I’d say it is like maybe 4x4 ft and 5 ft tall on the inside. We have a lot of perches in there for them too. I think the Rhode Island Red pullet just started laying, which is exciting! I was hoping that meant she would start going in there but she was still huddled under the coop with the two other barred rock pullets last night.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi!! Thank you so much for responding!
Our coop is fairly large. My husband built it from our kids old play house. I’d say it is like maybe 4x4 ft and 5 ft tall on the inside. We have a lot of perches in there for them too. I think the Rhode Island Red pullet just started laying, which is exciting! I was hoping that meant she would start going in there but she was still huddled under the coop with the two other barred rock pullets last night.

Congratulations on the egg!

Things don't always work out as planned.
Just so I'm reading correctly, you have 7 adults and 3 pullets for a total of 10 large fowl?

Even though you do have approx. 2 ft per bird with your housing, they may still feel a bit cramped. Adults are very territorial and can try to keep new birds out of their space. Roosting space is prime real estate. All you can do is keep putting them in there.

We all do things differently and there are no hard and fast rules to housing. It seems the general consensus for backyard chickens is to provide at least 4sqft per bird for housing (coop) and at least 10sqft per bird for run space. Some birds get along great and do with much less, while others need even more space.

Personally I try having as much space as possible. My coop is approx 90sqft and my run space is around 410sqft. I currently only have 12large fowl, but integration of youngsters even in that larger of a space can still be a challenge, especially during nighttime roosting. None of us are immune to the problem. As your pullets mature, it will hopefully become easier. With mine, it took most of them to around 25wks before they all found a place they settled each night and I have a good bit of roosting space. It can all work seamlessly for a while, then you have a hickup - just last night, I had a pullet on an outside perch by herself after dark For some reason she did not go in, so I will have to keep an eye on that and see what's going on. She is one of the more stubborn girls, so who knows.

 

[IamRainey]

My 18mo and 4mo chickens just got finished integrating. It was a painful process even though I raised the chicks in the coop (inside their own protective wire kennel) from the time they were 4 weeks old.

Once I let them loose in the run at about 8 or 10 weeks old I had to shoo them into the coop at dark for about a month because they were avoiding the bossy big girls. They have only just begun using the roosts at night. Before this they were happy enough to try them out during the day when the Queens of the Coop had moved down into run. But come dark they just huddled up in a corner under the big girls despite the fact that there were 2 different roosting poles.

At this point I would have to say that it's very clear that they consider themselves to be 2 distinct flocks and probably always will be. They will live peaceably. AT LAST! But wherever one of the older girls is, the other one is. And wherever one of the next generation is you'll find the rest.

My not very experienced advice is, when they're ready, they'll do it. If they won't, they'll find another way.

Give them time. Observe them. Experiment with new options for them. Let them work it out. They're pretty damned good at being chickens so they know what they're doing.

 

[Duck Hill]

When you consider roosting space, you need to consider the line distance a new bird can sit from an older bird. For example, say you have 4 old birds and one new bird. If you were to have four 3' perches with one older bird choosing to sit in the middle of each perch, the least distance a new bird could be from an old bird is about a foot. This might be too little for birds that consider themselves a different flock - even though 12 feet of roosting space would be considered ample for 5 hens. This is why the math of the space you need for chickens is not the same as the reality...

If within your financial means, it is always an option to simply add a second house for the new flock.