Re-training Chickens to sleep in coop?

[aart]

Quote: As long as you have about 1 foot of roost length per bird in the coop, you don't need to put a pallet up near there.
Have they been settling in comfortably on the coop roosts at night since they've been locked in?
They'll get over being confined, don't let it bother you too much.

Post a pic of your porch and I'll see if I can make some specific suggestions.

 

[Lost Farmer]

Hose them off the porch, then take a stick, tap the ground and herd them towards the coop. Do this just as they are getting ready to settle, maybe one or two on the porch rail. Two - three nights, and they will quickly come to the idea, that the porch is not a great place and really the coop is much better.

Mrs K

I saw one thing on Surviving Alaska that was pretty nifty, This guy took a black trash bag and tied it to a long stick, then started to wave it in the air to get his chickens in the coop, It looked like a larger "SOMETHING" was flying around so they all ran for safety. Tried ti with my chickens one time and it worked like a charm. Maybe you can put something on the porch that deters them from there. It doesnt take much to scare a chicken off of something.

I think I am going to keep them in for a week. I have been giving them fresh fruits and veggies in the mornings in addition to their feed so hopefully itll ease some of the boredom. I did hang the light in the coop about a week before I decided to lock them up and turned off all the porch lights and lights in the house to deter them from the porch but for some reason they still didnt go down there on their own. I mean you could clearly tell that the coop was the lightest part of the yard but maybe i need a light on the outside of the coop too?

No i wouldnt put a light on the outside of the coop, only on the inside. My chickens were mainly free range but i only fed them grain once a night around sundown or 7pm, which ever came first. They would all come screaming into the coop like their tail feathers were on fire. Once they all got in, id close up the coop. Light timer on, then rinse and repeat for the years i had chickens. Also when ever i gave them treats or scraps, i would only put ti in the coop so they got the idea of coop means treats and the "GOOD" stuff

 

[Weehopper]

My coop is a chain link dog kennel, so I open it in the morning and close it at night. Free range during the day. The only access they have to their food is in the coop. Now and then I open it during the day if they want in to snack. I gave them treats off my front porch, until they decided they might like to roost there one night. So I ran them off. They would run around the house, I would go in, and they would try to sneak back. I was persistent. They finally stopped trying to come back and went to their coop. I closed the gate. They have tried a rebellion only one more time since then. I no longer feed treats off the front porch. Everything is done in the back now. Don't encourage any sort of porch sitting. I'm even training my dogs to move them off the porch. They still free range on my 2 acres..just not on the porch