My pullets think the coop floor is LAVA! 🙄

[ChickyCh00k]

Idk if this will help but when my pullets refused to sleep in the coop I took away anything else for them to perch on in the run it took a few days and a lot of confused birds (imagine chickens flying at the roof of the run trying to get up onto invisible perches) but eventually it worked

The picture this put in my head!

Thankfully they did go into the coop and were roosting when I got home after dark. Although, I shutter to think of what that scene looked like.

I suppose that's the most important thing, that they're still going in at night. They have a few months before they reach POL, so I the only reason they're in the coop right now is to sleep. I'll not be changing litter so abruptly in the future though! #LessonLearned

 

[ShannaES]

Mine girls did the same thing when I put sand in the run, lol. It took three days before they would set foot in there.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Mine girls did the same thing when I put sand in the run, lol. It took three days before they would set foot in there.

They're so smart in some ways, and then in others...... not so much

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Just to check the obvious-- have you felt it with your hand to make sure it is not poky or otherwise uncomfortable for them to stand on?

(They are probably just upset because it is new, but if they are this determined, I think it's worth checking if they have an actual reason to be upset.)

Thank you for thinking outside the box! Sani-Care is very, very soft. Much softer than the hemp in fact. I can't think of anything that would cause them discomfort (other than the newness, of course).

 

[KyCoop]

This also happened to my pullets when I placed them in the coop for the first time after they fell asleep in the run.
The big girls jumped down in the morning and went out. The little girls were still on the roost looking curiously at the floor unsure about the pine shavings (hot lava) they had never seen before.
I threw some shavings around to show them it was a solid floor that they could walk on it. They have been fine ever since.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

That should work. Put more in a path from the door to the feeder waterer roost etc.

I sift out some old bedding to toss on top of the new bedding(I use pine shavings) to avoid the 'hot lava' syndrome. I also have tossed BOSS around the coop after shaking the jar to call them in.

Putting some on the path to the food etc is a great idea (thank you)! And I think I will try putting the hemp on top of the new stuff (hopefully it'll look similar enough to the old...)

I did try tossing some scratch in, but even that was not enough incentive! They won't eat BOSS (I can't even begin to imagine why not because I thought it was supposed to be like chicken candy!).

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Since they had no audience to play to, I'm sure they calmly walked in, did their bedtime rituals and went to roost!

You're probably right!