I want my 11 silkie chicks to join the flock in the coop at night

[KatiewithZena]

Hello fellow chicken lovers.
I am talking about only silkies here.
I have an original flock of 1 rooster and 2 hens, and 1 of those hens has 2, 2 week old chicks.
I also have 11, 6 week old chicks that I hatched in incubator.
They have been outside in a fenced off coop of their own for the past 2 weeks(see but no touch), sleeping in a cardboard box that I had been moving inside at night.
They are now allowed out to mingle and free-range in the backyard with the OG's, and that seems to be going well(apart from clearly being the small chickens that get moved and bossed around by the OGs, especially the mother hen of the 2 babies, they are scared of her!), I have lots of different food and waters everywhere, but they are 2 separate flocks, the 11 and the 5.
Now my problem is this, I want the 11 to eventually join the others in the coop at night by themselves, because the coop has the omelette automatic door on it, and it locks the chickens up safely at night, saving me so much time & effort.
At the moment the 11 go into their box about 8:30pm, and the 5 go up into the coop about 9pm, then I close the auto door, then get the box with the 11 and lift them 2 at a time into the coop via the side door. They all sleep in that corner when I put them. And the 5 sleep in the other corner where they always have.
In the morning when the sun comes up the door opens and all the chickens pile out and go free range for the day.
I want the 11 to take themselves up into the coop at bedtime by themselves. Any suggestions on the best way to help make this happen naturally would be much appreciated

 

[pennyJo1960]

Okay now first how large is the coop? Here my silkie, banty have just 4 in their own coop.
My big girls and the marans rooster Smudge are in their own coop.

 

[KatiewithZena]

Okay now first how large is the coop? Here my silkie, banty have just 4 in their own coop.
My big girls and the marans rooster Smudge are in their own coop.

It's 1m wide by 1.2m long.
At the moment the 11 sleep in a tight corner away from the others so there is enough space for now.
I am waiting until the 11 get a little bit older so I can see how many roosters there are, and then they will have to go unfortunately
I may need to up size the coop later...
But for now I just need advice on the best way to get them to head up in there by themselves... Will it just take time like a couple weeks for them to think of that as bed and not the cardboard box? Should I move the box into the cage under the coop, one step closer to the ramp leading upto the coop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Have you tried taking away the box entirely? If chicks don't have access to where they're used to sleeping they'll start looking for a new location.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hello fellow chicken lovers.
I am talking about only silkies here.
I have an original flock of 1 rooster and 2 hens, and 1 of those hens has 2, 2 week old chicks.
I also have 11, 6 week old chicks that I hatched in incubator.
They have been outside in a fenced off coop of their own for the past 2 weeks(see but no touch), sleeping in a cardboard box that I had been moving inside at night.
They are now allowed out to mingle and free-range in the backyard with the OG's, and that seems to be going well(apart from clearly being the small chickens that get moved and bossed around by the OGs, especially the mother hen of the 2 babies, they are scared of her!), I have lots of different food and waters everywhere, but they are 2 separate flocks, the 11 and the 5.
Now my problem is this, I want the 11 to eventually join the others in the coop at night by themselves, because the coop has the omelette automatic door on it, and it locks the chickens up safely at night, saving me so much time & effort.
At the moment the 11 go into their box about 8:30pm, and the 5 go up into the coop about 9pm, then I close the auto door, then get the box with the 11 and lift them 2 at a time into the coop via the side door. They all sleep in that corner when I put them. And the 5 sleep in the other corner where they always have.
In the morning when the sun comes up the door opens and all the chickens pile out and go free range for the day.
I want the 11 to take themselves up into the coop at bedtime by themselves. Any suggestions on the best way to help make this happen naturally would be much appreciated View attachment 3364377View attachment 3364379View attachment 3364384View attachment 3364386

Your coop is too small for 11 birds

 

[KatiewithZena]

Have you tried taking away the box entirely? If chicks don't have access to where they're used to sleeping they'll start looking for a new location.

Yep I did that last night, but they just huddled up where the box was on the grass at the end of the run....
And I felt sorry for them so I put the box back. Also to make it easier to move them all into the coop. Later after the others went up.

 

[KatiewithZena]

Your coop is too small for 11 birds

I agree that it will be too small for 11 birds once they're grown.
But I don't think I will be keeping that many for much longer depending on their sex...
It's big enough for them at the moment though isn't it?
There's still plenty of space in the coop at night when they're sleeping as you can see in the coop cam pic.
Any ideas how I can get them to go upto the coop by themselves??

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any ideas how I can get them to go upto the coop by themselves??

Have they ever used a ramp before/been trained to use a ramp? Chickens don't necessarily naturally understand ramps.

 

[KatiewithZena]

Have they ever used a ramp before/been trained to use a ramp? Chickens don't necessarily naturally understand ramps.

They have walked down it the last 5 mornings when they leave the coop, and I tried one night unsuccessfully to get them to walk up it...
Maybe I could put lots of treats on the ramp and lock them in the bottom of the run to try and get them to try and walk up it without the other 5 around?.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They have walked down it the last 5 mornings when they leave the coop, and I tried one night unsuccessfully to get them to walk up it...
Maybe I could put lots of treats on the ramp and lock them in the bottom of the run to try and get them to try and walk up it without the other 5 around?.

That sounds like a good plan. Training them to go up is the harder part - using treats they like can help.