Introducing chicken to new coop

[Chikken]

I have a question, I have a chicken that was hatched late September that is 3.5 months old that I want to put in with my bigger chickens. Right now it is in the silkie pen because one of my silkie hens hatched and raised it. I have been trying to put it in the bigger coop at night but the chicken doesn't seem to want to go in there every night. Any ideas how to get her to stay in the coop? Any advice appreciated!

 

[azygous]

This is going to be difficult. The pullet considers herself to be a member of the Silkie group. Taking her from her group that she's imprinted on is going to be very stressful, especially if you do it all at once.

Has she been introduced to the other chickens yet? Has she ever even laid eyes on them? If not, that would be the first step. This is how I would do it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

 

[Chikken]

Yes she interacts with them all day long and they seem to get along great the problem is taking her from the silkie coop and putting her in to the bigger coop and keeping her there all night. When I put her in there myself she stays in there but won't go back the next night.

 

[azygous]

If she's integrated with the large chickens, it's just a matter of establishing the habit of using the bigger coop.

Last week, I decided it was time for the last three of five nine-month olds to move into the big coop from the smaller one they grew up in. Two had already moved in on their own a month ago. So I merely shut their small coop when it came close to dusk, and then I steered them into the big coop where I had to do a little bit of refereeing.

For two nights, they were intent on trying to get into their smaller coop, but I kept steering them to the big one. By the third night, they were much more agreeable to going into the big coop, and now, a week later, they are ignoring the smaller coop and have come to treat the large coop as home.

It just takes a little persuasion and time to develop a new habit.