all cooped up

[maine egg man]

I finished my coop it is 8x8 and I have 7 girls inside all about 17-18 weeks split the difference on the nest boxes they are 16 inches off the ground, my question is how long can they stay inside with out free rangeing I don't know when i will be able to get the run finished
and will they find the nest box one there own or do i need to show it to them being close to laying time I have placed a golf ball in each nest box, also have pine shaving on the floor about 3 inches thick with them cooped up how often should I clean this out

 

[cmom]

They will be fine. Can you free range the birds? I did, and in the evenings I would give them some of their favorite treats in the coop to get them to come in. Now they all go in before dark. I use pine shavings and I sprinkle FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth (DE) on the shavings in the coop. Also my roosts in my coop are over wire which allows the poop through and I sprinkle the DE over the poop too. The pine shavings are on the floor in the rest of the coop. Monthly I add some shavings until I have approx 4/6in, and weekly I add more DE. I clean my coop once a year. Once in awhile I throw some scratch on the shavings and let the chickens mix it up. They do a very good job. I have no problems with flies, stink and such. My pine shavings stay nice and dry easy to clean out. I put golf balls in the nest boxes, 1 ball per nest and so far I haven't found any eggs out of the boxes.