new hens won't go in the hen house.

hello,

I have 2 old girls who have started laying less (1 egg/day between them - not sure which one is laying) so bought a couple of end-of-season pullets to go with them.  Lots of bullying going on as expected, though nothing too fatal - my new girls are nifty runners!  

I have a small henhouse with a run attached.  The two old girls go into the house at night, but the new girls stay outside in the run - locked, so they are safe, but it will start to get a bit chilly out there soon & they will have no access to the nesting box once they start laying.  Would it be safe to shove them into the henhouse with the old girls after lights out, & pull down the shutter until morning, or is that likely to cause a massacre?

I have had the new ones for a fortnight now, so hoped things would be settling a bit more.

Any ideas, advice, very welcome.

Thanks  Rachel

yes, get them used to being in the house by putting them in there at night.
straight onto the perch if you can.

Tehy'll get used to it eventually, but they need to know that there's where the bedroom is 

Thanks for the help - worked like a dream.  newbies a bit squawky still at being handled so I dangled them upside down for a couple of minutes to calm them down before popping them in through the side hatch.  Bit reluctant, but settled quickly once I closed up again.  Opened up again at 5am (!) & everything appeared calm.  The grannies processed out first, bit grumpy at being disturbed so early, but I could hear the other two chatting away, without much alarm, inside.  Rewarded by seeing the pair of them on the lawn an hour later, parked up like a pair of caravans, purring away in the sunshine.  Seems the worst is over.  Thank you!

yes, bit late for the reply, but, putting them together locked away at night in the same hen house is the best way