My hens are a little "slow"

[colfaxrn]

I am new to all of this. I got 3 Barred Rock hens last week. One is 1year and 2 are 6 1/2 months. I have a two story coop. Enclosed on top with run on the bottom. The ramp is on the inside. The older hen goes down to the bottom all day and returns to the coop at dusk. The younger girls will not go down the ramp at all. Twice I have "helped" them and then locked them down there so they could see how to get there and how nice it is. They run back up the ramp at the first opportunity. Do they just need time? Should I put the food down there to encourage them? They are pretty skittish and not sure of me yet. Big Momma, as I have dubbed her has no problems at all. Laverne and Shirley need fly the coop once in a while.

 

[Judy]

First, it can easil take more than a week for chickens to get accustomed to new living quarters and new flock mates. They could still be working out the pecking order, where the others are avoiding the dominant one. You can take your dominant one out of the coop for several days, then return her, to "shake up" the pecking order. Or simply give them more space and some hiding places, and a little more time. If your enclosure is predator proof, there really isn't any reason to force them to stay in one particular place, as long as food and water are available.