Returning to coop

[melirobin]

My chickens are now 9 weeks old. I only have 4 and they spend most of their time in their run/coop.

We noticed a couple of weeks ago that at dark they would automatically put themselves into the coop for the night and all we had to do was shut the door.

Recently I had let them out into the yard in the evening. They love it and I am able to stay and watch, we have a very small suburban lot. I just assumed come dark they would walk into the run and go up into the coop. But they didn't!

I had a wooden clothes drying rack on the porch where I had been sitting. The girls had come over sat on the chair and me and eventually got up on the drying rack and were clearly going to sleep!

I had been very worried that if they didn't go back into the coop on their own I would be chasing chickens in the dark and they are near impossible to catch in the daylight. Thankfully they seemed very calm, guess they were just sleepy and I was able to take them into the coop one at a time.

So what the heck, when will they know to go back into the coop on their own. Are they just too young to know it at this point?

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

hey! I'm new too!
I have my adult chickens in a yard, and they start roosting on the provided roosts at dusk. They only come down if I go in there with a really tasty treat. My babies have been roosting too, but like I said, they're in a yard (seperate from the older chickens) and would probably roost anywhere they were comfy.
You can move them more easily at night, so when they start going to sleep, put them where you want them to sleep and after a few days they might get the hang of it.