Keeping Chickens Free Range

[SaraSue2014]

We have 22 free chickens. 2 roosters and 20 hens. They are all young we just got them in March. We have a huge chicken coop that they roost in at night but are free range during the day. They put go in their coop on their own every night. We feed them "super cock" twice a day plus scraps when we have it. Unfortunately our flock will be penned this winter. They are not going to be happy about it but it's for their own good. We have two hawk couples that live on our property during the winter and they will not last long. This is my first time having chickens... Although my girlfriend has had them off and on her entire life... It is great fun! I love to see them free range they are all so happy!

 

[gander007]

Yep I would defiantly lock them up when I left then ...........

 

[love them chick]

We have 7 girlies and they free range during the day, They started out just staying around the tractor with us watching over them like doting new parents. As they have gotten older and fatter we have let them grow up. We let them out around 7 a.m. they have eaten their food and had water then they run(funniest thing ever) to the bird feeder. There they chase the squirrels away and eat the fallen food. Then their off to the back feeder. Then back around to the front door to see if my husband might be coming out with a snack. Maybe some grated cheese or scrambled eggs. By now it's getting into the high 80's and they will start to hunker down under a large azalea bush, for a while. In the evening after one more snack and some special attention(we have 5 that will sit on our laps and let us scratch them) the leader will take them all into the coop for the evening. I am hoping that leaving them in the coop until 7 will encourage an egg. Someone told me that where they lay the first egg is where they will lay the other eggs from then on? Is that true?

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

My dog is a farm dog so he stays outside pretty much all day. He is a German Shorthaired Pointer. He has been trained not to kill livestock but idk.

I just got chickens this year, as well as two sweet black Holland Lops. My greyhound ironically couldn't care less about the bunnies, but stalks the chickens. I was letting them free range when the dogs were in during the hot Tucson days. I thought all were back in the coop (it was dark) and let the greyhound out. Sadly, I miscounted in the dark and Holly the PBR met an ignominious end. I am trying day-time free ranging again when the pups go back in after their morning constitutional. They've been going back into the coop around 2 pm and I shut the door then. So far so good.

I also have 4 year old field bred yellow lab who is enormously curious about the chickens. I don't think he'd kill them, but he would like to carry one around as a trophy. Occasionally he tries this with the cat, too.

 

[RoosterLew]

We have 7 girlies and they free range during the day, They started out just staying around the tractor with us watching over them like doting new parents. As they have gotten older and fatter we have let them grow up. We let them out around 7 a.m. they have eaten their food and had water then they run(funniest thing ever) to the bird feeder. There they chase the squirrels away and eat the fallen food. Then their off to the back feeder. Then back around to the front door to see if my husband might be coming out with a snack. Maybe some grated cheese or scrambled eggs. By now it's getting into the high 80's and they will start to hunker down under a large azalea bush, for a while. In the evening after one more snack and some special attention(we have 5 that will sit on our laps and let us scratch them) the leader will take them all into the coop for the evening. I am hoping that leaving them in the coop until 7 will encourage an egg. Someone told me that where they lay the first egg is where they will lay the other eggs from then on? Is that true?

Yes and no, LOL.
If you teach them that in the nest is where eggs "go'..they will lay them there.
Sometimes they will do this on their own, some times you have to "encourage " it. And sometimes...they are going to do what they want?

 

[JessicaThistle]

Yes and no, LOL.
If you teach them that in the nest is where eggs "go'..they will lay them there.
Sometimes they will do this on their own, some times you have to "encourage " it. And sometimes...they are going to do what they want?

How do you teach them that's where eggs go?

I have 8 - 20 week olds. One started to lay last week and is the only one so far. She has chosen my husband's tool box as the perfect spot. I have a fake egg in the nesting boxes. The other day, we kept them locked in the coop a little later than usual and she laid her egg in the nesting box that did not contain the fake egg. Every morning she freaks out, sings the egg song and runs all around the coop. If we let her out, she goes straight to the tool box. (Little stinker)!

I feel like she knows the nesting box is where to do it but she prefers the tool box. I can't imagine why. I set up a little box with some hay in it that he keeps on the top of the tool box for her. He is being sweet about it but he would prefer to have his work space open and her laying in the nesting box.

My chickens free range most of the day. Even my Cornish X get out and run around but they way prefer to do it during the cooler parts of the day!

 

[lazy gardener]

Love them chicks: Yes and no to your question. Often the first egg will come as a surprise and may be dropped anywhere. i found my first egg beside the water dish. It wasn't there when I filled the dish, 2 minutes later, it was laying beside the dish with a very surprised pullet standing near by. I'd recommend that when all the signs point to an egg being imminent, that you at least lock them in the run until a laying pattern is established, perhaps even just keeping them locked in until noon. Put fake eggs in all nest boxes. Chickens are great copycats, and when one gets the hang of it, the others will follow suit. But, woe to the flockster who's girls start laying under their favorite shrub!! (or in the tool box!)

Jessica: I just have to have some fun with you! Chickens learn by example. Have you tried climbing in the nest box yourself? (Sorry, couldn't resist) As far as the chicken laying her eggs in the tool box, you need to show her that the nest box is really preferable. Have you tried putting a hammer, and perhaps a few metric sockets in the nest box??

 

[QueenBubbles]

My cats were soooo interested in the chicks as babies and I shooed them off. Now Penny, the EE, chases one of them. The other one isn't afraid of anything (even eye - pecking death chickens) and just walks by oblivious. We do seem to have chickzzxsdd

 

[Melnurse]

I just got chickens this year, as well as two sweet black Holland Lops. My greyhound ironically couldn't care less about the bunnies, but stalks the chickens. I was letting them free range when the dogs were in during the hot Tucson days. I thought all were back in the coop (it was dark) and let the greyhound out. Sadly, I miscounted in the dark and Holly the PBR met an ignominious end. I am trying day-time free ranging again when the pups go back in after their morning constitutional. They've been going back into the coop around 2 pm and I shut the door then. So far so good.

I also have 4 year old field bred yellow lab who is enormously curious about the chickens. I don't think he'd kill them, but he would like to carry one around as a trophy. Occasionally he tries this with the cat, too.

You made me laugh and read this out loud to my husband. We have three labs as well (two yellow, on black), not field trained - but guide dog drop outs who now spend their days forgetting all the good behavior they were taught and lounging like Lords of the Manor. Like yours, I don't think they would hurt the chickens, but I am not going to test that theory. Tonka, our oversized boy, would love to carry a chicken around, proudly showing us his prize; Earl - our middle boy - would love the chase, but if they didn't run, he'd probably ignore them; Cleo - our oldest girl - would most probably ignore them - she's more interested in their droppings than in them.

We allow our four girls (I'm talking hens now) to roam in a confined pen that is outside of the coop, but uncovered with a 5 foot fence around it. We've had to clip their wings because they keep wanting to get closer to us and are generally curious about the greener grass. I know that with racoons and eagles/hawks etc., I may one day face a reduction in hen population, but so far so good. I work from home (nurse who works for a health plan in CA) so I can keep an eye on them, but once I find a job in WA where I don't have to travel, I will not be home. I fear allowing them to roam freely while gone and have been reading these posts with some misgivings.

We bought one of those "cute-but-hardly-weather-proof" - and too expensive for the quality - coops when we started this venture and is serves well in spring to November, but I worry about December onward and if they'll be warm enough. Certainly, it is not big enough to leave them inside of it for a whole day while I'm at work.

Just some thoughts that I'm voicing and working through.
Mel

 

[RoosterLew]

How do you teach them that's where eggs go?

I have 8 - 20 week olds. One started to lay last week and is the only one so far. She has chosen my husband's tool box as the perfect spot. I have a fake egg in the nesting boxes. The other day, we kept them locked in the coop a little later than usual and she laid her egg in the nesting box that did not contain the fake egg. Every morning she freaks out, sings the egg song and runs all around the coop. If we let her out, she goes straight to the tool box. (Little stinker)!

I feel like she knows the nesting box is where to do it but she prefers the tool box. I can't imagine why. I set up a little box with some hay in it that he keeps on the top of the tool box for her. He is being sweet about it but he would prefer to have his work space open and her laying in the nesting box.

My chickens free range most of the day. Even my Cornish X get out and run around but they way prefer to do it during the cooler parts of the day!

Try putting the little box with the hay in the nest box.....and tell your lazy Husband to close the tool box!! LOL
Next, sit her in the nest box and tell her "Egg's go here"..maybe hang a sign that says that?
Why does she like the tool box? Is it higher than the nest boxes? Lower? Shinier, duller, bigger, smaller...If she is a pure breed, and the Tool Box is Snap-On maybe she is just too good for your cheapo nest boxes?
When you figure it out, you'll be smart as a chicken!
It can take some creativity & ingenuity
Leaving her in the coop until she lays is a good idea, you could also limit her access to the tool box.
I had some that started laying on top of the nest boxes.......so I took the tops off of them, they do not seem to mind the open top nests?
Many people put milk crates on the floor of the coop with a bit of hay and the girls lay in them, a friend had 3 milk crates layed on their side, his girls used them all just fine. Then one day one of them got turned up straight and they all started using just that one.

Love them chicks: Yes and no to your question. Often the first egg will come as a surprise and may be dropped anywhere. i found my first egg beside the water dish. It wasn't there when I filled the dish, 2 minutes later, it was laying beside the dish with a very surprised pullet standing near by. I'd recommend that when all the signs point to an egg being imminent, that you at least lock them in the run until a laying pattern is established, perhaps even just keeping them locked in until noon. Put fake eggs in all nest boxes. Chickens are great copycats, and when one gets the hang of it, the others will follow suit. But, woe to the flockster who's girls start laying under their favorite shrub!! (or in the tool box!)

Jessica: I just have to have some fun with you! Chickens learn by example. Have you tried climbing in the nest box yourself? (Sorry, couldn't resist) As far as the chicken laying her eggs in the tool box, you need to show her that the nest box is really preferable. Have you tried putting a hammer, and perhaps a few metric sockets in the nest box??

Why metric sockets? Are these Imported English Chickens? If they are good old American SAE chickens they probably will refuse the metric sockets!!
LOL -