How to Move Chickens to New Coop

[lmdengler]

View attachment 1203928 Good Morning All from Upstate NY -
For the past several weeks my husband has been building me a new coop (the pic from a few weeks ago is below). It's going to be gorgeous and will be ready for Bob and the girls next week. They have lived in the TSC coop since I got them in May (pic below from this summer). They are transitioning from the raised coop and run to the new enclosed coop and run. My question is - how do I move them from their TSC coop to this one? I'll post up to date pics soon - but I was just wondering how will I get them from one to other - or do I just take one away and they will figure it out?
Lisa

 

[jthornton]

I moved mine at sunset with a dog carrier and put them in the coop with the door closed. This gave them about 30 minutes to sort out who goes where.

JT

 

[lmdengler]

Here is a new pic. You can see it's about done! When I get the curtains up and the wreath on the door I'll send another!!

 

[jthornton]

Looks pretty where are the vents?

JT

 

[lmdengler]

Looks pretty where are the vents?

JT

At the top - he drilled large holes at the peaks.

 

[Wise Woman]

Beautiful coop. I just moved my girls last Friday. I waited until night and then just carried them one by one from the old coop to the new coop. I placed them each on a perch. We had a light on in the run so they could see a little bit in the coop. They scuffled around a little bit and then all decided on a spot and settled in for the night. Was pretty easy.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I agree with the others. Best to put them in the new coop in the evening. Does your new coop have an attached run? If it does then you should probably keep them in the run & coop for a week so thayou the know this is now home. Good luck and beautiful coop.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My suggestion is to just move them. You can do it at night, you can do it during the day. You can lock them in the coop only for a few days or just lock them in the coop and run. We all have different experiences with this, usually it’s not hard. The important thing is to not allow them to go back to the old coop, that’s where they will want to sleep and lay eggs if they are laying. So keep them locked up, coop only or coop + run, for at least a week. More is better. And block off the old coop so they cannot go back inside if they ever will have access to it. One may remember laying in there.

Often they take to sleeping in the new coop immediately. I’ve had some that I kept locked in the coop only for over a week and I still had to train them to go to bed in the coop when I let them in the run. Put fake eggs in the nests to show them a good place to lay. With a little patience it should not be too hard.

Good luck!

 

[Subsistence Farmer]

Agree with those recommending keeping them locked up In the new co-op and run for at least a week or ten days. Do not allow entrance into the old coop after letting them out and they will adjust to the new house. If they can get back into the old house, some or all may return.

I hate keeping birds confined unless I have a good reason and this is one of the good ones.

Ron

 

[Sindi jessen]

Looks pretty where are the vents?

JT

Does a coop have to have vents