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FlappyFeathers said:
Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
View attachment 1619417 ​
Great job helping your little chick get better! Glad you're enjoying you chickens!
There could be lots of reasons those few aren't going in... but let's see, ten chickens need a lot of roost space to be comfortable. And if you said they're not quite a year old yet (though birthday in feb 2017 would make them almost 2) they could just be getting bigger and don't fit as well as they used to. Pecking order is a big deal, and if the other hens want more space, those on the bottom will get booted out. They all will need a minimum of 10 linear feet of roost space (12" per chicken)... could be two 5 ft bars or three 3 ft bars, something to equal 10 feet or more, and be at least 12 inches apart and 12" from the wall. Remember, that's minimum. They actually need a bit more to have room to flap their wings and get up there:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Good luck with your flock!
Click to expand...
FlappyFeathers said:
Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
View attachment 1619417 ​
Great job helping your little chick get better! Glad you're enjoying you chickens!
There could be lots of reasons those few aren't going in... but let's see, ten chickens need a lot of roost space to be comfortable. And if you said they're not quite a year old yet (though birthday in feb 2017 would make them almost 2) they could just be getting bigger and don't fit as well as they used to. Pecking order is a big deal, and if the other hens want more space, those on the bottom will get booted out. They all will need a minimum of 10 linear feet of roost space (12" per chicken)... could be two 5 ft bars or three 3 ft bars, something to equal 10 feet or more, and be at least 12 inches apart and 12" from the wall. Remember, that's minimum. They actually need a bit more to have room to flap their wings and get up there:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Good luck with your flock!
Click to expand...
FlappyFeathers said:
Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
View attachment 1619417 ​
Great job helping your little chick get better! Glad you're enjoying you chickens!
There could be lots of reasons those few aren't going in... but let's see, ten chickens need a lot of roost space to be comfortable. And if you said they're not quite a year old yet (though birthday in feb 2017 would make them almost 2) they could just be getting bigger and don't fit as well as they used to. Pecking order is a big deal, and if the other hens want more space, those on the bottom will get booted out. They all will need a minimum of 10 linear feet of roost space (12" per chicken)... could be two 5 ft bars or three 3 ft bars, something to equal 10 feet or more, and be at least 12 inches apart and 12" from the wall. Remember, that's minimum. They actually need a bit more to have room to flap their wings and get up there:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Good luck with your flock!
Click to expand...
Thank you Lucy is a sweet heart, always the first to greet me! I'm sorry I meant 2018, sometimes my brain.... anyways, my cope is fairly good sized it can hold 8-10 & we made some extra roosting & nesting spots for them for that reason. If they don't want to go in the coop and stay out in the run, I'm ok with that. The run has tarp around half of it to break the West wind & some bails of straw up against the coop. They even have a coop heater! Now that I think about it, I'm raising my prices. ... I'm more concerned about then staying out in the yard as it's getting dark, I know they can't see. 1st time there were 4 chickens out and then 5 stayed out the next day.
 
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They same 4 is still hanging back again.... Agnus, Lucy, Hairette Houdini (forgot to mention her, name is self-exploratory) & Thing 2, sorry sometimes I can't tell the Austrolop apart, except for Lucy & Baronass.. I'm going to entice them with some left over pasta....
 
Welcome to BYC. Thoroughly check the coop for red mites - check roosts, and all corners and crevices where they tend to hide. If no mites, watch their interactions as they prepare for the evening. Some of the dominant birds may be picking on them.
 
phrog6901 said:
Thank you Lucy is a sweet heart, always the first to greet me! I'm sorry I meant 2018, sometimes my brain.... anyways, my cope is fairly good sized it can hold 8-10 & we made some extra roosting & nesting spots for them for that reason. If they don't want to go in the coop and stay out in the run, I'm ok with that. The run has tarp around half of it to break the West wind & some bails of straw up against the coop. They even have a coop heater! Now that I think about it, I'm raising my prices. ... I'm more concerned about then staying out in the yard as it's getting dark, I know they can't see. 1st time there were 4 chickens out and then 5 stayed out the next day.
Click to expand...
Do you have a photo of what the inside of the coop looks like... maybe with chickens in there too?
 

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