chicken holiday

[homer123]

hi everybody,
i am new to this forum and site, although i have kept hens for a few years now.
i have the hens free ranging in the back garden and they have been out all winter now the garden is starting to 'spring' back to life (excuse the pun) the birds are going to have to be shut in again for a couple of months while the garden plants get established again without getting scratted and pecked to bits.

so here's the thing, i was thinking about crating up the birds and taking them over to my allotment a couple of days a week, so they can range and scratt about at their leisure without doing any damage, taking them back home to their run on an afternoon.

a kind of chicken holiday two or three days a week but what i am worried about is will the change of routine affect the birds and stop them laying, has anybody tried anything like this

many thanks

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Well welcome to Backyard chickens.

Apparently no one has tried what you are asking. Some chickens do fine with changes like that and some don't. Once it becomes a routine they should be okay and will probably look forward to it as long as they are calmer birds. I would expect it to initially cause some to stop laying. Have you thought about how you will provide them somewhere to lay their eggs?

I personally have found it easier to fence off my gardens or to plant stuff they can't dig up or damage.

 

[Pork Pie]

Welcome to BYC. I've never tried and I doubt that i ever would. I'd go with olden's advice and work at keeping the chickens away from the seedlings.

 

[homer123]

somewhere to lay their eggs would'nt be a problem as i would move them late morning and bring them back in the afternoon

thanks for the reply

 

[snow5164]

Welcome ,
My hens stopped laying when we were putting in a driveway .... change is not a chickens friend , at least not my chickens !!

I'd try to make it work at home ,
How about making them a tractor??

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Chickens lay throughout the day and the time of day will change for many birds as it takes approximately 26 hours to produce an egg, so hens lay about an hour or two later each day if they are daily layers until they reach the evening where they hold the egg until the following morning and the cycle starts again.

 

[drumstick diva]

I agree with oldhenlikesdogs. Just fencing off your garden is a lot easier and will not stress your birds. Or make a large chicken run with cover, so your birds will stay put.

 

[homer123]

many thanks for all the replies, fencing a bit of the garden off might be the way to go.....cheers