- May 14, 2009
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Hey yall, finished up my chicken tractor about two weeks ago, and moved our then six week old Bantams into it. We got the day old chicks, and they had been inside in a huge cardboard box since they were two days old, so they had never seen outside, much less any other type of environment, and we had no other birds, so no older chickens to show them the ropes. The tractor consists of a 4 by 4 coop with nesting boxes & roost, and a 6 by 5 outside run. The run is accessed by chicken ladder from an opening in one end of the floor of the coop. Ladder has steps that are about 5 inches apart. WHen I moved them, we put them in the outdoor run first, and they all just sat there for about ten minutes without moving, they were either scared to death or just completely sensory overloaded, but after about 15 minutes they began to assimilate, and are comfortable in the run now. Later that day, I placed three of the birds into the coop, and left three in the run, thinking they might figure out the ladder on their own. THe next morning, there were still three up, three down, but the ones in the coop did finally come down. The next evening, I moved them all into the coop. When I got home that evening, they were in the run, but they are roosting in a corner of the run, and don't go up into the coop. Since I really don't want them laying and roosting continually out of the coop, I'd like to hear how I might train these birds to roost in the coop at night. Suggestions?