okay to free range my chickens again?

[MysteryChik]

Okay, So several weeks back we were having a problem where Eleven of our chickens (one hen and five each cockerals and pullets) decided to stop coming into the coops at night. They decided they wanted to Roost up in our apple trees, free ranged all day and ate all of our ripening tomatoes in the garden. Well, after posting on here, a couple people recommended that I lock them up in their coop, run and not let them free range for a while. Basically to "reteach" them where home was. Finally after about three days of chasing chickens out of an apple tree and finally able to catch them.. we had them all put up. Well, we did that for two weeks. Now I am trying to figure out: Do I start letting them out in the mornings? Or should I do like we did when we first decided to start letting them range after we got them, and hour right before dark to see what happens, and then slowly let them out earlier and earlier? Advice always appreciated more than ya'll know. Still (slowly) learning about chickens and trying to do things the "right way." If there is one

 

[Mrs. K]

I find that I keep the coop as the home front, if I don't let them out every day at the same time. Some days all day, other days not at all depending on the weather. If I have a sudden egg production drop, that almost always means they have a hidden nest, and I lock them up until they are laying back in the nest boxes.

I would let them out, late afternoon, lock up at dark. Next day, don't let them out, next day a little longer free ranging, next day not at all. Then see how it is going. Always feed and water in the run. When they are locked up, training them to a shaker can of grain or other treats is a good idea, it will help when they are free ranging.

Mrs K

 

[Peeps61]

I find that I keep the coop as the home front, if I don't let them out every day at the same time. Some days all day, other days not at all depending on the weather. If I have a sudden egg production drop, that almost always means they have a hidden nest, and I lock them up until they are laying back in the nest boxes.

I would let them out, late afternoon, lock up at dark. Next day, don't let them out, next day a little longer free ranging, next day not at all. Then see how it is going. Always feed and water in the run. When they are locked up, training them to a shaker can of grain or other treats is a good idea, it will help when they are free ranging.

Mrs K

That's a great plan Mrs. K! Mine are locked up this week because my egg production is down again. The last time it happened, I found the nest and was going to clean it out so I'd know if any of the newer eggs laid there were fresh. When I went to clean it out, there was a broody sitting on it! We're in week two right now, and she's still sitting, so I'll give it another two weeks to see if we get any chicks. I only have one rooster to 30 hens, so I'm sure not all the eggs are fertile - there were about 12 of them - but some may hatch out. It would be neat to see a broody raising some chicks! She's a Silver Laced Wyndotte, and the eggs are from various breeds of chickens with a Polish buff laced rooster.

 

[Mrs. K]

I love raising chicks this way, the hen does all the work, I just get all the fun of watching! The flock thinks it is strange, but learn quickly to give her enough room. And the chicks just become part of the flock. Within two weeks, I have seen chicks eating between the feet of a layer.

In two-three weeks, if you can place a flat board 8-12 inches wide up near the roosts, the broody hen will teach them to roost up there, the urge to roost with the flock is very strong, and will cause a broody hen to leave the chicks. This way the chicks can still burrow in next to or under mama, and often times the rooster, while mamma is back with the flock at night. a win/win.

Later, the broody will just kind of forget the chicks, and they will be a little sub group until they begin to lay.

Mrs K

 

[LBW1]

Every evening at 5pm, I take meal worms out to my hens and they race me to the coop. Sometimes they are so excited, they jump up and knock the tray of meal worms out of my hand. I also leave the coop door open all day and they return there often to feed on pellets. They certainly are creatures of habit. Good luck.
Lorraine
NZ

 

[JEWELSTOCHICKS]

I just started having chickens a couple of years ago and a friends husband built us a chicken tractor. Lost 3 of the four chickens that we bought the first night. Trapped and relocated 5 young and one momma raccoon. We ended up reinforcing the coop which made it heavier, had to put new wheels on it and the $300 coop became a $500 coop. It was still really hard to move, but it was okay. We started letting the chickens out during the day when they started laying. Started losing them except one, my favorite. Replaced and finally lost my favorite one, Agnes. Stopped letting them free range. We had to put a heavy fence on the bottom of it which made it hard for them to get to the grass and bugs.
Then my husband started making something for our anniversary. Boy, I was really curious. He owns a robotics company they design and build machines mostly for the car industry (pouring metals to make different parts for cars and other machines) First, he ordered a jack from Amazon then he bought some mini bike wheels. Thats all the information I had. Two days before he went in to have a total hip done he comes home with what he made. A machine that raises the coop and a motor on it, so we can move it around the yard. When we lower it, it goes all the way to the ground making it free range again. We move it every night. I have been amazed, With no trouble it goes around the yard, making tight curves so we can keep them in the shade. It's just the two of us, they generally give us 3 eggs ever other day during this heat and 3 eggs when it cools off.

 

[Peeps61]

I just started having chickens a couple of years ago and a friends husband built us a chicken tractor. Lost 3 of the four chickens that we bought the first night. Trapped and relocated 5 young and one momma raccoon. We ended up reinforcing the coop which made it heavier, had to put new wheels on it and the $300 coop became a $500 coop. It was still really hard to move, but it was okay. We started letting the chickens out during the day when they started laying. Started losing them except one, my favorite. Replaced and finally lost my favorite one, Agnes. Stopped letting them free range. We had to put a heavy fence on the bottom of it which made it hard for them to get to the grass and bugs.
Then my husband started making something for our anniversary. Boy, I was really curious. He owns a robotics company they design and build machines mostly for the car industry (pouring metals to make different parts for cars and other machines) First, he ordered a jack from Amazon then he bought some mini bike wheels. Thats all the information I had. Two days before he went in to have a total hip done he comes home with what he made. A machine that raises the coop and a motor on it, so we can move it around the yard. When we lower it, it goes all the way to the ground making it free range again. We move it every night. I have been amazed, With no trouble it goes around the yard, making tight curves so we can keep them in the shade. It's just the two of us, they generally give us 3 eggs ever other day during this heat and 3 eggs when it cools off.

That's really neat! We use the front end loader on our tractor to lift and push our chicken tractor. The kids push on either side to get it to move in the direction we want. They may be cheaper than a robot, but probably not!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are they young birds? Many young ones will try that. Chicks raised by a hen will be taken to the roosts at night to learn the routine. Without a mom or even older birds to show them a routine they often will start making up their own. You will have to be the mom hen and round them up or lure them back with a nightly treat before locking them in. I don't think it matters when you let them out, but I would initially do it when you can be around and be there to round them up after an hour or two. Chickens like a routine, so get one going and they should soon like it.

I would also make sure your coop is appealing, they should feel safe in it and it should be comfortable with enough room and roosts for everyone. It's possible there's something they don't like about it. Good ventilation is most important too. So watching them to see if there's troubles at roost time that has caused them to look elsewhere for sleeping arrangements.

 

[MysteryChik]

Are they young birds? Many young ones will try that. Chicks raised by a hen will be taken to the roosts at night to learn the routine. Without a mom or even older birds to show them a routine they often will start making up their own. You will have to be the mom hen and round them up or lure them back with a nightly treat before locking them in. I don't think it matters when you let them out, but I would initially do it when you can be around and be there to round them up after an hour or two. Chickens like a routine, so get one going and they should soon like it.

I would also make sure your coop is appealing, they should feel safe in it and it should be comfortable with enough room and roosts for everyone. It's possible there's something they don't like about it. Good ventilation is most important too. So watching them to see if there's troubles at roost time that has caused them to look elsewhere for sleeping arrangements.

They are about 15 weeks now. We got them when they were probably a week old. (and they were raised by our adult Hen "Granny". When we got them, (granny and her babies) we kept them in the open air coop for a week, then started letting them out slowly at night. She did great, taking them back to the coop every evening like clockwork. But then.. around the exact same time that she started obviously weaning them... they all (including her) stopped coming to the coop. We would round them up, and put them in. They started to get higher and higher in this apple tree where we couldn't get them anymore. Then she (granny) went missing. we thought for sure something had gotten her. We would see the little ones during the day, and every night they'd climb high into the apple tree to roost. 21 days after seeing her last, Granny appeared in the yard one day. It was then that I figured out by doing research that she was probably sitting on eggs somewhere. (keep in mind granny and the babies are our first chickens ever. Later that evening after hours of searching... I found granny behind the tractor in the shed, and sure enough she was sitting on 14 unfertilized eggs. we got her, cooped her, and caught them and cooped them over a matter of a few days.

We have two coops actually. They are both "open air coops" and are each 15' by 17 foot. They have wood halfway up on two sides, and heavy duty chain link fencing around the other two sides. They are also reinforced with 1/2 inch chicken wire where the chain link is to help keep predators out. We have two coops, bc we bought Four BRocks about a month ago, and knew we would need separate coops for them, at least for a while. So before we got them, we built another coop. Granted the three Barred Rock Hens and one rooster are in one coop, and the other 11 (granny and the babies) are in the other. They each have nesting boxes up off the ground, and roosting bars. They all roost really well when in there although I am trying to figure out how to make the bars all one height and length bc our hen and littles seem to fight over the highest bar. She doesn't want to let any of the babies up there with her. (we have the ladder type roosts that you see on pinterest, etc. We wanted to keep granny in with the barred especially bc our rooster is so in love with her BUT.. he's not interested in the other BR hens yet. (they and the rooster are 21 weeks.) so I know I probably can't let her be round him too much bc I have heard that having only one hen that is "of laying age" for a rooster, could hurt her. he wouldn't want to stop trying to mate with her over and over and over...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your hens are getting close to laying age. They might be more inclined to return to their coop now. I would try some ranging and see how they do. Otherwise keeping them confined until they start laying is another option if they are still giving you trouble.

Your rooster can probably be with Granny. If he's mating her too much her back feathers will start to break off. Only you can tell if it's too much. Every rooster is different and some are respectful. You might have better luck returning her to the other group.