Bonjour from a want to be farmer in France

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Poule medicis

Poule medicis

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Hello to everyone. We've wanted to have chickens for a few years and are happily 2 days into this new journey. We purchased 12 ready to ready to lay egg hens of different breeds: marans cuivrée, marans couscous, Sussex, médicis (which I can't find any information on this breed)' and what the French call grey chicken and red chicken. The flock is very independent, so much so they're not interested in any food we give them. They find what they need on their own which is leading to problems because yesterday evening was a challenge getting all 12 girls in their house for the night. As soon as we'd open the door to put one in 2 would come out. We tried with different food to get them in but nothing worked except spending over an hour chasing each one around their run. We have a lot to learn but how very exciting this journey is. Now if only tonight will go smoothly!
 
Bonjour, and welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. I've never heard of medicis, so I can't help you there. As far as getting your girls in the coop for the night, you need to lock them in the coop for a week so that they get acclimated to it as home. Then at the end of a week, open the coop door and let them wander out on their own. Do not drive or carry them out of the coop. If they are slow to want to leaven the coop, you can always tempt them out with some food. If this is the case, don't leave food in the coop. Once they are coming out on their own again, you can move the food back into the coop. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
Generally, you can keep the chickens locked in their coop (with food & water) for a few days. This way they realize where home is and will usually come back to the coop at dusk every day, afterwards. If they free range that much - they may not come back to lay eggs. You may have to go on an egg hunt looking for them every day. Hope this will work for your girls.

The next responders may have better ideas. Welcome to Backyard chickens
 
Thank you very much for your reply. I want to make sure I understand correctly. We have a chicken coop (building housing the chickens) and a very large chicken run that is attached to the coop. In the coop, we have three nesting boxes, and five different nesting posts. The chicken coop is a small space enough for sleeping and laying eggs but I can't imagine them put in there for a week with out being able to get out and run around. I think they'd peck at each other something awful because of being bored. I understand about hanging cabbage but mine are not yet interested in any food I give them including cabbage! So am I to keep them in the building without going to the chicken run? Do you think they're not interested in the food because I bought ready to lay eggs chickens and didn't start with wee ones? Again, thank you so much for you taking the time to respond.
 
Thank you so very much for responding. I left a detailed response with some questions in the thread. I feel just so greatful to have people like you that give such needed advice.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! As the posters above said, usually locking chickens in their new coop for a few days is the easiest thing to do to teach them it is home. Do you know the square footage of your coop and run? Generally you want about 4 square feet per bird inside the chicken coop and 10 square feet in the run... depending on the weather in your area you may get away with less in the coop if they can be outside most of the time except to sleep and lay eggs, but if they will be inside in the winter for example when it snows etc, you want to be sure your coop is big enough to accommodate them. Nice article in the Learning Center on figuring out how much room you need for the flock you want. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
Chickens take awhile to get used to eating new things, if you offer new things, you can just leave it in the run and they should start plating with it eventually, or mix it with their feed so they get the idea it is edible, some flocks/birds will like some things better than others... usually scratch (a grain mix most feed stores would carry), and things like mealworms are popular with the birds, mine really like cantaloupe and apples also ... There is a nice chicken treat chart in the Learning Center https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens
 
Kelsie2290 said:
Do you know the square footage of your coop and run? Generally you want about 4 square feet per bird inside the chicken coop and 10 square feet in the run... depending on the weather in your area you may get away with less in the coop if they can be outside most of the time except to sleep and lay eggs, but if they will be inside in the winter for example when it snows etc, you want to be sure your coop is big enough to accommodate them. Nice article in the Learning Center on figuring out how much room you need for the flock you want. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need
Click to expand...
X2 on Kelsie2290's post. With 12 chickens you should have a minimum of 48 sq. ft. of floor area inside your coop (not counting the area taken up by the nesting boxes) and a minimum of 120 sq. ft. of floor area in the run. More is better as overcrowding will quickly lead to exactly the kind of problems you have described.
 
Thank you for all the responses. Yes, I've read articles on size and taken them all into consideration as any responsible caregiver does. We live in an area that had 2 days of temp below freezing last year, no snow. We need to cut the grass a few times in the winter so our lovely birds will be outside as much as they want except at night. We have no pecking issues except 2 that are bullying a bit but they peck and then the "victims" walk away and it stops. The only issue was to get them back in the coop at night. I'm delighted to say half of them independently went into the coop this evening so huge progress is being made. Also, the girls ate a lot of the veggies that were put out for them today. Before I got the chickens I was sooooo happy to read about good treats for our feathered friends on this site, very informative indeed. So things are moving in the right direction and we've had 15 beautiful eggs!! Again, thank you all for your suggestions.
 

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