Hens will not come out of coop

[Kaitie09]

We are in southern Pennsylvania, and I can understand it when it is cold out enough that all the chickens stay in, but the past couple of days it has been in the mid 60's and they still would not go out. The originals go out as long as there is no snow on the ground.

 

[savingdogs]

We bought four new pullets and put them with our flock of mixed ages after an interval. We put them in at night when everyone was roosting and it seemed fine.

But they refused to come outside for several months. I did see them get picked on at one point by the rooster, but they continued to hide inside for months and months after he had accepted them and paid them no attention. But I think they had a long memory regarding being picked on, or perhaps the other chickens were being mean at night inside the coop when I could not watch.

In any event after several months of hanging out inside, they come out like normal. But they have always roosted in a corner of the coop instead of on the roosts with the other chickens.

What cured them was I added more younger chickens and they were no longer the youngest and most picked on and they were no longer afraid to come out. The new younger chickens did not behave the same way? Go figger.

 

[aria122]

Perhaps if there was a place the new girls could 'hide' outside it would ease the transition. Is there a roost they can go up on outside?

 

[Kaitie09]

yes, there are multiple roosts, and we have a huge tree trunk that we couldn't move, so we built the run around it. I will most likely be posting pics of the set- up in the next couple of days.