Integrating new chicken troubles

Monkeybean415

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I have 4 month old pullets I'm trying to integrate into the flock. They all free range during the day but I'm having problems with nighttime. They all want to hide and cram into a nesting box and I have the hardest time chasing them all down to put away. How am I supposed to coop train them if I can't keep them locked in the coop or run without depriving the big girls access to the nesting boxes. Also how do I get them to roost and not sleep in the nest boxes? Block them off just for the night? Thanks for your help
 
First consider if you have enough roosting space. Measure it. Secondly, are your roosts higher than the nest? I am assuming that they are, if the older birds are roosting.

Blocking off the nests in the late afternoon is a good idea. I am assuming that you don't have a run attached to your coop? It is always a bit unclear with written posts. I myself rather hate to lock birds in a coop all day in the middle of summer, I worry about excess heat. If I locked them in the coop this time of year, it would be in the late afternoon, with the nests blocked off, then later I would let the layers in just before dark.

However, if they are roosting in the nests, they should be returning to the coop at night? So no real need to round up? If you need to round up, get a long stick, and move slowly toward the coop, with them between you and coop. When they move away from you, you stop, when they stop, you take a step or two until the 'pressure' on them get them to move again toward the coop. If one trys to run past you, extend your arm, and tap the ground in front of her with the stick. I say "Hut, Hut" at this time. By moving slowly, you can actually round them up more quickly with less stress. Have some scratch on the floor just inside the door.

Or another way is to put scratch in the same bucket or can each time, shake it madly and call 'chick, chick' each time you feed. Do this a few times when they are hungry, and they will come running at the sound of that bucket.

As for the layers, my birds love to change their nests once in a while, so set up a nest outside of the coop. Make it a bit dark, but an easy opeinging, put a couple of golf balls in it, and they should use it no problem. Later on, when you want them to lay back inside the coop, this nest should just disappear.
 
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Mrs. K ask excellent questions.

I would add this:
Sounds like the youngers are going into the coop at night but roosting in the nests...correct?

I would suggest making a separate roost for the youngers, maybe just a little lower than the main roost.
 
We do have a small covered run attached to the coop but I haven't wanted to keep everyone locked up in there all day but maybe that's our best option. I don't have to round up the big layers they know to go on or can be easily lured by food. It's the newbies that won't go in. They want to get into the garage where they've been for the last few months. We put in another roost so there's plenty of roosting space they're just still scared of the big girls so are sleeping on the floor of the nesting box.

So my two best options are to keep everyone in the coop/run for a week or add a nesting box outside the run? I'm a little hesitant to do that just because we have a couple girls who sometimes make nests in weird hard to get to places.
 
Is the covered run big enough for all of them?

I would try keeping everyone in the run/coop for a few days.
The younger birds may 'hide' on the roosts.
Multiple feed/water stations will help too.
 

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