How to Get Your Chickens To Stay in a New Coop

The beauty of a 100 year old barn comes with a sadness, one day it will fall down. Our Chickens couldn’t stay in this coop for long. It was only a matter of time before the flock needed a new home.

The thing about old barns is they shift and sway and can tip a little and stay that way for years. When we moved to our farmhouse a few years ago now, I was in love with having an old barn on our property.

We knew at this point we didn’t have much time with the barn. I am thankful for the three years we were able to raise chickens in it. We pasture raise our chickens and the barn served a wonderful shelter for them in winter too.

With the winds and heavy snowfall this year the barn is leaning even more. The foundation wall is crumbling and I knew the chickens had to move.

Since we built a new barn we decided to turn a corner of it into a chicken coop. The little pulley door is my favorite. And now I don’t need to bend down and say a friendly Hello to gigantic spiders to get the eggs out.

We have a perfect reach for clean eggs in the nesting boxes.

How to Move Chickens to A New Coop

We have one Australorp Rooster and 14 hens to go with him. We have two hens who are almost five and the rest are three years old.

It was a cool Spring evening when all the little chickens were sleeping we started one by one picking them up and bringing them to the new coop.

Be sure to move your chickens at night. It’s easiest and our kids had a blast.

Put them up on their new roosts. Ours and probably yours too will be so sleepy they go right back to dreamland. They’ll check out where they are tomorrow.

This is the key when you want to move your chickens to a new coop- keep them locked up in the new coop for at least THREE days.

After the three day isolation period keep your old chicken coop locked. You don’t want them to go back into the old one and get cozy again.

If you try the old let them out of the old coop and keep the door open for the new coop, they may go in an check it out. They won’t sleep in it though.

More Chicken Tips:

• The Hard Truth About Raising Chickens (No One Talks About This Part)
• The Best Chicken Feeder for a Small Flock
• How to Stop Chickens From Eating Their Eggs

Even if you have an outdoor run that is fenced keep them in the coop part for at least three days. This is the easiest way to transition your chickens.

We have a gravel floor in our barn and it actually works well for the chickens. If you are concerned about the floor of your chicken coop check out the article here.

If you are brand new to raising chickens and aren’t sure the type of nesting boxes or coop to make read our article here.

My husband wanted to keep the flock locked up for four days, but I always feel bad when they are stuck inside not free ranging. I went with three days and anxiously waited to see if they went back in that night.

Sure enough they did. it’s been a month now since they have moved to the new coop and during the day they will poke around the old barn but none have tried to go back.

I love having all the animals in the same space now. I think our mini pigs like the extra noise! Now when we go on vacation it makes taking care of the animals easier.

Read or Pin: How to take a Vacation When You Have Chickens For Cheap!

It was an easy transition. Our hens laid eggs right away in the nesting boxes too.

If your chickens don’t return to their new coop at sundown, you will need to start over and keep the flock locked up again for three days.

I hope this helps encourage you to move your chickens to a new coop if needed. Share any tips or tricks you have with us in the comments below.