Moving a flock to a new coop

[Dmontgomery]

Our flock was devastated last year. We went from 21 birds down to 3 over a period of months. A couple months ago we bought 34 new birds and a couple weeks later, one of our hens hatched out her own brood of 3. So we now have 40 birds in a coop designed for about 20. We decided to build a new bigger coop that could hold all the chickens and be closer to the house. I will post more on that in a different section later.
My question: I know it's easier to catch and move all the chickens after dark, but will waking up in a new coop the next morning be more stressful than moving them during the day so they can see their new home? It's really hot here and I want them to have as little stress as possible.
The new coop is nearly a quarter mile from the old one.

 

[Pork Pie]

Either way there is going to be a certain level of stress involved, so personally i would do it in the evening time, when they will be calmer / easier to handle and it will be cooler.

 

[Dmontgomery]

Thanks

 

[Dmontgomery]

It took about 3 hours but we got all 40 of them moved last evening. It rained lightly yesterday so the temp. dropped down below 80 degrees after 5pm. About half of them have been hand fed since hatching so they were not difficult to catch. By the time we got down to the last 4 they were pretty agitated so we waited until they had roasted up for the night to move them. Watching them all jockey for positions in the new roosting area was really fun. By 8:30 they had all found a spot and were asleep for the night. All looks good this morning.