New coop!

[jesse rose]

Finally finished building our coop and got 4 new hens last night. They are mature and very healthy.

My question is this is their first morning in their new coop. They are awake and chattering but not coming out. Do we need to teach them to use the ramp? Or let them figure it out?

I don't want to bother them while they acclimate, but don't want them to stay in the coop too long.

Any suggestions?

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Finally finished building our coop and got 4 new hens last night. They are mature and very healthy.

My question is this is their first morning in their new coop. They are awake and chattering but not coming out. Do we need to teach them to use the ramp? Or let them figure it out?

I don't want to bother them while they acclimate, but don't want them to stay in the coop too long.

Any suggestions?

Finally finished building our coop and got 4 new hens last night. They are mature and very healthy.

My question is this is their first morning in their new coop. They are awake and chattering but not coming out. Do we need to teach them to use the ramp? Or let them figure it out?

I don't want to bother them while they acclimate, but don't want them to stay in the coop too long.

Any suggestions?

Throw some food on the ground outside the run, make sure they know where the feeder and waterer is and they’ll be fine

 

[aart]

Finally finished building our coop and got 4 new hens last night. They are mature and very healthy.

My question is this is their first morning in their new coop. They are awake and chattering but not coming out. Do we need to teach them to use the ramp? Or let them figure it out?

I don't want to bother them while they acclimate, but don't want them to stay in the coop too long.

Any suggestions?

Might be good to leave them be for now, to acclimate to the coop as being 'home'. I assume they have feed and water in there..and plenty of space, ventilation, and windows for light?

Do they have a secure run or will they be free ranged?

 

[jesse rose]

Might be good to leave them be for now, to acclimate to the coop as being 'home'. I assume they have feed and water in there..and plenty of space, ventilation, and windows for light?

Do they have a secure run or will they be free ranged?

Their feed and water is outside in the run. The run is secure but we'll be letting them free range when we finish getting our rail gates wired for no escape. Space, ventilation, light. All good.

I sprinkled some scratch all down the ramp and in the run and they were pretty curious about that! But the mealy worms were the deal! I'll sprinkle some more of those out this afternoon. Two of them have come out and seem to use the ramp comfortably. The other two are a little younger and so I'm sure a little more nervous.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I personally don't try to micromanage every aspect of my chickens' lives. I tend to leave them alone to figure things out and just be chickens. That doesn't mean I don't train them.

I would have managed that differently. I would have provided food and water in the coop and left them in there for a week or so to try to train them to sleep in the coop. Then I would have opened the pop door and walked away. Sometimes mine are all in the run withing 15 minutes. Sometimes it is into the second day before they all come out. It makes no difference to me.

It will be interesting to see what yours do at dark tonight. If you consider your run secure you may be OK with them sleeping in the run. Most of us want them sleeping in the coop. If yours go inside when it gets dark, great! If not, I suggest you go out after it is dark enough to pick them up and lock them in the coop. I had a group that I only had to do that once for all of them to get the message and put themselves to bed in the coop. I've had a couple of groups (around 20 birds) it took 3 weeks for all of them to finally get that message.

Good luck!

 

[jesse rose]

I personally don't try to micromanage every aspect of my chickens' lives. I tend to leave them alone to figure things out and just be chickens. That doesn't mean I don't train them.

I would have managed that differently. I would have provided food and water in the coop and left them in there for a week or so to try to train them to sleep in the coop. Then I would have opened the pop door and walked away. Sometimes mine are all in the run withing 15 minutes. Sometimes it is into the second day before they all come out. It makes no difference to me.

It will be interesting to see what yours do at dark tonight. If you consider your run secure you may be OK with them sleeping in the run. Most of us want them sleeping in the coop. If yours go inside when it gets dark, great! If not, I suggest you go out after it is dark enough to pick them up and lock them in the coop. I had a group that I only had to do that once for all of them to get the message and put themselves to bed in the coop. I've had a couple of groups (around 20 birds) it took 3 weeks for all of them to finally get that message.

Good luck!

Thank you for the response. I would not have left them inside the coop for a week. That is way too long in a confined space for girls that are used to free ranging.

I brought them home at night and placed them inside the coop. At daylight I went out to check them and they were investigating their new digs.

The automatic door open a bit later. A couple of them stuck their head out but that was it. I sprinkled some scratch and a few mealy worms down the ramp on in the run. That got them interested.

By the evening of the first day they were all outside. And I watched at sundown and they all went back inside.

My coop is not large and luxurious. I only set up for 10 birds max because that's all I want to take care of. My experience with placing food and water in a small coop is that it gets spilled.

They have found the nesting boxes and are doing well. And they've learned that I come with table scraps and treats. In a week or so I'll be letting them out to train to come to me with mealy worms.