Moving chickens

[aart]

Bu
BY "cooped up" do you mean keep them inside of there new coop with the door shut ( and yes it has plenty of ventilation and more than enough room for 4 chickens), for a week? Like feed them, water them and everything inside their coop? Then after a week just let them out?

Yeppers.

 

[Thebossbaby]

Ok. And when I get more hens, should I just lock them all up again for a few days? Or can I just do Like normal ( keep them in a cage with food and water around the others) for a few days and then just let them out and hope they stick with the original 4? Mine can, as I have mentioned, get out of the new fence. But when I come to feed them they come right through it to me at their current pen. So I'm hopping if they are attacked some how they will be smart enough to just slide by through the fence to safety within the flock

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ok. And when I get more hens, should I just lock them all up again for a few days? Or can I just do Like normal ( keep them in a cage with food and water around the others) for a few days and then just let them out and hope they stick with the original 4? Mine can, as I have mentioned, get out of the new fence. But when I come to feed them they come right through it to me at their current pen. So I'm hopping if they are attacked some how they will be smart enough to just slide by through the fence to safety within the flock

Attacks happen often at night when birds are sleeping. They don't run or fly they just sit there until it's to late to escape.

 

[Thebossbaby]

I know. I will put them up every night in their coop and shut + lock the door. There is no way anything can get in. Not even a snake

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, the way to get them to laying the new coop as well as lay there is to leave them locked in it fro a week or so. Just move hem over there when they go to bed in the old coop. I'd close up the old coop to try to help them remember where to lay.

 

[Thebossbaby]

Ok. Thanks guys! 1 more thing. How will the hens know to lay in the nesting boxes? When I transport them should I show them the boxes or have golf balls in them or something?

 

[MROO]

So basically it's a standard blue movable coop.

I know it's not an easy proposition, but can you possibly move the smaller coop inside or adjacent to the new run and coop, so they have access to both shelters? If you allow them some time to explore the new coop from their old home, they can explore the new digs at their leisure. Then you can close off the old coop and they should move to the new one pretty readily.
A line of electric wire about a foot off the ground around the coop and run should deter the neighbors' dogs. Fast food isn't nearly as much fun when the box bites back!

 

[Thebossbaby]

I can't do that I'm sorry. The small coop has wheels yes, but they have been flat for over a year now. It's quite impossible to move it without a crane or helicopter. I can look into the electric wire though. But still what do I do about them knowing where to lay in the new coop?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd put fake eggs in the nests you want them to use. I use golf balls. This does not guarantee that they will use the nests but they tend to like to lay where other hens are laying. I leave golf balls in the nests permanently. Like I said, no guarantees but I've seen enough when those golf balls are not there to be convinced they can help.

 

[Thebossbaby]

My nesting boxes are weird. I'll take a pic when I get Get home. basically, they are about 3 feet off the ground and they have a osb board with holes cut in them. Under the holes is a box that will he full of hay when I move them. So the only way to see the best is if they get on top and look down a few centimeters into the nest