Converting chicken to free range?

[eamoret]

I just 'adopted' a chicken from a friend recently, and she was not free range before. She has a dependency on grain and I'm trying to break that. I've stopped giving her grain during the day and have been keeping her outside to free range with the rest of the flock (who hate her, by the way). She seems to do okay, but I'm concerned she's not foraging as much as she should be. The rest of my chickens go wild when they are out of the pen, pecking, scratching and eating EVERYTHING. I got the rest of my flock as chicks, and had them foraging from the time they were three days old. They are masters, but I'm afraid she is not. This new hen is the only one laying eggs so far, as my other chickens are all still too young. I'm concerned that she should be getting all of the nutrients from foraging and I hate to keep giving her grain all the time. It doesn't make for good yolks. Any suggestions?

 

[sumi]

I bought 40 battery hens over a year ago. They've never been outside, ever. It took days before they left their coop. But over the following weeks they slowly, with much encouragement from me, ventured out, learned to eat grass and luserne etc. It too time, but they learned and now you'll not believe it's the same hens! They are all over the place, eating everything edible they find and laying beautiful eggs.
Be patient with your girl. She'll learn how to "be a chicken".

 

[off-grid hen]

^ This. It took my adopted rooster a while to learn how to be a chicken too. He mostly stayed close to the door of the run for a few days. Every day he'd venture a little further. After about 2 weeks he was foraging like a pro, and he had control over the 12 hens. It just takes a little time.

 

[WinklerFarms]

I just recently decided to free range some of my mixes. They had a small run so I just took down me wall of it. The first day they didnt leave the area they were accustomed to staying in. With each day they wondered outside more and more. It has only been a week and they don't go farther than 50 yards from the coop. I have noticed a huge drop in feed ntake though.