How long should I keep them penned before they can free range again?

[grandmachicken]

We moved my flock of 20 birds to our new 6.5 acre homesite about 2 months ago. New coop wasn't built yet, so we let birds free range during the day. At night, the older hens that had been used to roosting in a coop would roost in dog carriers; the younger birds were happy to roost in the trees. This went very well for about 4 weeks, until I started losing birds, about 2 or 3 a night. So we built a makeshift pen for them and put out a live trap - and caught a possum, who we humanely euthanized. But by this time, the youngest birds - about 16 weeks old, game mix chickens, had gotten so used to roosting very high in the trees it was nearly impossible to catch them. But I finally did - now they have all been confined to the pen for about 2 weeks, and 2 pullets have started laying in a nest box (yay!)

I am anxious to let them out to enjoy the woods and the pasture and garden again - they enjoy free ranging so much. But I am afraid that they will return immediately to roost in the trees when dusk comes. Can anyone tell me how long I need to keep them confined before they will automatically return to their pen to roost? I am down to 11 birds - 9 pullets and 2 roos - and I really don't want to lose any more at this point.

Thanks,
Christi

 

[meriruka]

Everything eats chicken. It's hard to keep them safe, especially at night. Maybe you could try luring them back to the coop at dusk with yummy treats every night for a while. It works for mine when I let them out, but there is always one that I have to track down and catch.