Refugee Chickens

[animalspooker]

I have free range chickens. I'm at twelve hens right now, 6 buffs that are new to the flock and 6 Phoenix/cochin mix that have made their home with me for some time now. I let them out every morning and they put themselves to bed every evening. Now, for some reason my six P/c mix have decided they don't want to roost in the hen house any more. They roost every night in the neighboring trees around the house. I'm not worried about predators as I have a couple of hounds that keep them at bay, but I am worried about the oncoming winter. Sounds as though we will be having one of the worst winters in some time and I dread coming out one morning and finding six little chickencicles stuck up in the tree. Any ideas on how to get them to going back inside the house for the winter?

 

[JacobMaxwell]

I've read that keeping them confined in the coop for a couple of days can teach them to go back to the coop at night. I'm having the same problem right now, and I've just been placing the chickens back in the coop by hand each night.