Coop vs pen? new to chickens

[Sandrachx]

consistently see the word coop (lock girls in coop to encourage they use nesting boxes) and wonder if you are referring to the actual building structure? i have a roosting coop which we enlarged adding nesting boxes, doors, windows; it seems big enough for evenings and bad weather but don't quite understand locking them in to lay...

we were given 8 girls and a rooster (adults) and now have some teenage offspring. won't the girls learn from the adults about where to lay the egg? also, my teenage roosters are being very aggressive to the adult ladies, so i've penned them off separate for a few days until we figure out what to do with them. i've found the adult ladies upset and one particular rooster with a mouth full of feathers, looking/acting innocent!

thanks.

 

[speckledhen]

When most of us say "coop", we are referring to the actual building. For the fenced in area, some say run, some say pen. I know there is a popular chicken-raising book that calls the entire thing including the building and the run together the "coop" and the building the "henhouse", but that isn't the way most people define it.
Usually, they will learn by watching the layers where to lay their own eggs, but you can put fake eggs/golfballs/etc in the nests when they're getting close to encourage laying in the nests.