Newbies won't sleep inside the coop...

[ontheridge]

We introduced a new group of 7 to our existing flock of 6. The introduction itself has gone well - we did it slowly, letting them live in side by side yards seperated by a fence for a while before combining them. Their run is large, so we don't see fights often. At feeding time there is definitely some pecking and grabbing feathers, but there's enough room for them to run away from each other. Our only problem comes at night. All of the chickens go into the coop, which has a covered but wire-only (no walls) bottom section and an elevated, enclosed section with roosting bars. The older gals all go up into the enclosed area to sleep on the roosting bars but the younger ones stay down below and huddle together to keep warm. One night, we found one of the younger ones up in the enclosed area, sleeping in a nesting box. The others, though, remained down below.

Thus far we have just been waiting to see if it'll take a little more time for the flock to all get along. It has been 8 days now. Should we keep waiting it out or take some other action?

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[Cartop Rob]

I added a lower roosting bar. This encouraged the younger ones to roost. Older ones left them alone as the bar was a little lower. I lived your story. Eventually they will work it all out. What are the ages?

 

[aart]

We introduced a new group of 7 to our existing flock of 6. The introduction itself has gone well - we did it slowly, letting them live in side by side yards seperated by a fence for a while before combining them. Their run is large, so we don't see fights often. At feeding time there is definitely some pecking and grabbing feathers, but there's enough room for them to run away from each other. Our only problem comes at night. All of the chickens go into the coop, which has a covered but wire-only (no walls) bottom section and an elevated, enclosed section with roosting bars. The older gals all go up into the enclosed area to sleep on the roosting bars but the younger ones stay down below and huddle together to keep warm. One night, we found one of the younger ones up in the enclosed area, sleeping in a nesting box. The others, though, remained down below.

Thus far we have just been waiting to see if it'll take a little more time for the flock to all get along. It has been 8 days now. Should we keep waiting it out or take some other action?

Thanks for the advice!!

How big is your upper coop part(feet by feet) and how much roost length(feet) do you have for your 13 chickens?