Do chickens lay more eggs free ranging or in a confined area?

[maxmcl]

Do chickens lay more eggs free ranging or in a confined area?

 

[maxmcl]

I was just wondering, can you please say your why you think that to please.

 

[A Chicken Owner]

Personally, I think that hens lay the same amount of eggs in confinement as they would free ranging. The difference is that a free ranging hens egg is likely to taste better than a confined hens egg.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

True free range hens will produce slightly fewer eggs than confined hens kept under ideal conditions. At the least you'll find more eggs to gather, while loosing fewer hens. So you might say that the answer is yes and no. It is true that free range eggs taste and look different, especially the yoke. Everything else is subjective.

 

[realsis]

I'm not sure of this answer but I know my hens are in a large run and they lay every day to every other day.. so I would answer it just depends on the chicken themselves. I live close to a river so I have lots of birds prey out so I can't let mine free range. but that had not hurt their egg production. and they are much safer. so it really depends on the hens.

 

[Weasleymum]

It seems the same to me. Sometimes my hens free-range, and sometimes they're locked up, and the only time I see a difference is if they're cooped up because of terrible weather. (Mine don't lay as much when they don't get sunlight, b/c I don't have a light in their coop.) As long as they're getting a good amount of good food, they should lay whatever amount is right for their breed.

I think a lot of people feed their free-range hens too little, because they overestimate how much the birds are getting from the landscape vs. how much extra energy they spend running about. Then they think that they aren't getting as many eggs as they should... Free-range hens are like athletes: they are constantly on the move and need extra calories because of it. I count what they forage (grass, bugs, etc.) as the "extra" and continue to feed them as much layer feed as I would were they cooped up.

Sometimes I think a free-ranging hen has stopped laying, then I find the outside 'nest' with a bunch of eggs in it.

Keeping them at least partially confined means that they'll lay where they're supposed to!

 

[LTygress]

I haven't noticed a difference either way. What I do know, is that a free-ranging chicken that has not been trained to use a nest box, will often lay their eggs in the most random places, and you'll have trouble finding them!

 

[Carin]

Egg laying depends on what type of breed they are and their age and food much more than the free ranging or not. Your chances of finding the eggs are better if they are in a confined space

 

[centrarchid]

My free-range hens seem to produce at least as many eggs even though they get fed a limited ration relative to confined birds. Forage must be good and many breeds do not take advantage of forage available. Nest locations can sometimes be an issue limiting collection rate of eggs actually laid when free-ranging. I got to go deal with that issue now darnit.