Do I need to keep them cooped up??

[TMNfarm]

I have 12 pullets... 6 BO, 4 Production Reds, and 2 Black Australorps. They are about 4 1/2 months old now and some of them have started laying. (Does that officially make them hens??) I know for a fact that at least one of the PR's is laying because she laid an egg right in my son's hand! I was assuming that because there are 4 of them and I am getting 3-4 eggs per day that it was the 4 PR's laying, but my kids swear a BO was in the nesting box laying. The eggs are all similar, but occasionally I will find one with tiny white speckles on it.

They have been allowed to free range, truly free range, around my farm for the past couple of months. I would let them out in the morning when I did morning chores (about 6:30-7AM) and by evening chores (about 8:30-9PM), they would be in their coop and I would feed them and shut their coop door. When they started laying (about 2 weeks ago), I was advised to keep them cooped up until the afternoon so they would learn to lay in their coop in the nesting boxes. I now open their coop door in the morning, but keep their run door shut. Their run is 10X10'. I will open the run door and let them free range in the afternoon, but sometimes I can't get to it until later.

Am I safe in letting them out in the morning again or do I have to wait until ALL of them are laying? My concern is that the kids go back to school in 2 weeks, I work 8-5 every day, and we have after school/work activities several nights a week, so there will be 3-4 days a week that they won't be able to free range at all. I know you don't HAVE to let them free range, but I believe it is healthier and I WANT to, but I also don't want to have to search for my eggs. I have a 25 acre farm, so they could lay them anywhere!

Advice?? Opinions??

 

[Attila the Hen]

I leave the door open and they go in to lay their eggs and leave when they are done. I have never had a problem with them laying outside he coop.
I have 4 young ones about 16 weeks and they are still small to me so my concern is letting them out when I am not around because I am afraid a hawk will get them.

 

[bluegiantsc]

My hen started out laying her eggs in the nest box, then something happened one night and they stopped going into the coop all together and started sleeping in my flower bed. Now sometimes when I let them out to free range, she will lay an egg in the flower bed. But most of the time she will go back into the coop to lay the egg and then go back to free range. But if you notice them staying in a certain area on your farm they might lay an egg there. My chickens like my flower bed, and shes dug a hole there to lay. So keep an eye out, but they should go back into the coop to lay the eggs because thats what they're used to doing; they're smart that way and they don't like change that much.

 

[TMNfarm]

I'm not so worried about the ones that are already laying... Will the ones that haven't started laying yet figure out to lay in the coop if the others are?

 

[bluegiantsc]

I think they should. A lot of people say that if there are fake eggs or real eggs in your case, then it helps the hens know that they're supposed to lay in the nest boxes. When my hen started laying in the flower bed, some people told me to put a fake egg or golf ball in the nest box. But with the eggs already in the box, they should be okay with laying in the boxes. Hopefully at least! Good luck!

 

[HEChicken]

I've never had a problem with them not returning to lay in the nest boxes. The problem with keeping them shut in in the morning is that hens don't always lay in the morning. I get eggs throughout the day - up to about 6pm. Why just yesterday I went to collect eggs around 3pm and brought in 4 eggs. When I went back out to check on them around 7pm, I found 4 more.

 

[dainerra]

I let mine out; the pullets tend to follow the example of the older birds. It's instinct to lay in the same area that the rest of the flock nests - a known "safe place" Sometimes a hen will take it upon herself to start laying outside. If that happens, I just leave them shut in the run for 2-3 days and they "remember" the nest box.
So, I would let them out. If you suspect that they are hiding nests sometime in the future, just leave them in the run for a couple days.

 

[devora]

I'm not so worried about the ones that are already laying... Will the ones that haven't started laying yet figure out to lay in the coop if the others are?

No. It's possible that you'll get lucky and everyone will do this, but it's also quite possible that some will find an outside place to lay.

I prefer to do the work up front and the times I've put it off I've had rogues. Now my policy is to lock everyone in until everyone has laid, no free range for about a week.

If you do get a rogue layer later you'll have to do it anyway, so why not now? Train 'em right from the start.

 

[TMNfarm]

I think I will keep doing what we're doing until school starts for my kids (Sept 4), then I'll start letting them out in the morning. Maybe we'll have a few more laying by then?? One of my Production Reds "Peep" was in one of the nesting boxes this morning, but there was no egg. She left it when I checked but went right back and started pushing the ping pong ball (because I didn't have a golf ball...) under her. I watched her for as long as I could before I had to give up and go to work... I wonder if she might be going broody or just taking her sweet time to lay her egg...

I went on an egg hunt yesterday and checked all of the places I know they like to hang out, but didn't find any rogue eggs. My daughter and I attempted to check their vents to see if we could tell which ones are laying. Mixed results... I think we have 2 Reds that are laying and 1 or 2 of my BO's. I saw my rooster "Roscoe" breed my biggest BO "Bertha" this morning. Is that a good indication that she is one of the ones laying? We suspected she was...