Hi everyone. I am having a similar problem and am a bit at my wits' end. I would really appreciate some advice. I recently brought in a new adult hen, and she is very sweet and is integrating well, except for one thing. She seems totally flummoxed by the ramp up to the coop, and also by jumping up to the perch. I have the sense that my lead hen is actually delaying going up because she wants this hen to go up first, but new hen won't go up, and so I end up waiting until after lead hen is in the coop and then I have to go out every night and secure new hen myself. I don't have the kind of job where I can be home every day at sunset, so I am anxious to figure out how to help new hen.
She knows the coop is "home" and that she's supposed to go up there - I see her looking up at the entrance as the sun sets.
Mainly, I don't know if what I am doing is helping or making things worse. I have been trying to place her gently on the lower part of the ramp during the day to make her comfortable on it. She doesn't love that. At roosting time, rather than just placing her on the perch, I have been trying to help her walk up the ramp. She can do this, with my help and some fluttering, but she doesn't like it.
Once in the coop, she won't jump up on the perch. Again, part of me is worried that lead hen is causing this to happen when it is too dark for new hen to manage things (I only have two hens, which I know is not ideal, but for personal and logistical reasons it has to be that way right now).
This is a lot of info, so I'll try to be clear about what I'm asking. First, I should say that I am not handy and do not have building skills, so suggestions that involve modifying or adding to the coop in some way will unfortunately be very hard for me. Also, I worry that doing something like adding a lower roost for new hen, even if I hire someone else to do it, will then interfere with lead hen's ability to maneuver in the coop (it's not very big). If at all possible, I need to acclimate new hen to the setup.
I also, unfortunately, can't adjust the steepness of the ramp -- I tried that but discovered that when I make it less steep from the bottom, it squishes things at the top so that she is kind of wedged (Light Brahma -- large girl) at the top and can't get through the opening.
My questions are: am I making it worse by trying to help her? Should I just back off and eventually she will figure it out? Should I intervene and encourage her to go up before lead hen does so she has more light? How do I keep lead hen from getting involved in that and making things even more stressful? Are there any other ideas others have about how to encourage a hen to learn to use a ramp and jump on a perch?
