Do you keep yours locked up until egg laying is done?

I only have one of my 5 young chickens laying and so far (7 days) she has always gone back to the nesting box to lay, even if they are out. I still check around the yard and pen though just in case some of others are laying and I don't know it yet! I'm pretty new at this though, so I'm sure you'll get some much better advice from the others here.

 

No. I open the coops in the morning. They have their morning ritual (eating, drinking, playing around). Then they go to the chicken house and open shop. They begin their laying. When they are done, they leave the chicken house and begin their day.

 

I generally don't allow new layers to free-range for several days of laying until they've firmly established that nests are the place for eggs. Once they get started laying around the yard it's hard to get them back in the nest again!

 

Normally, we let ours 8 chickens out from 3 pm till dark to range in the yard. By 3, everyone has usually given me an egg. On Sunday a week ago, I let my chickens out early and only had 4 eggs! Yesterday by noon I had 7 eggs and I went ahead and let them out. But only 7 came out and I was surprised to see one sitting in the nest box. She finally came out about an hour later and sang her egg song. Given the chance, I'm sure some of ours would go ahead and lay in the yard.

 

Quote:Yep. Mine do the exact same thing. Once they pick a favourite spot, it stays that way. Even when new nesting boxes are introduced Maybe the younger ones will use the new boxes I put out in my converted garage.

 

No, but my hens have always returned to the coop to lay.

 

Mine always go back to the coop to lay.

 

Quote:Mine too

 

I keep my layers confined to their coop & pen until around 2-3pm so that it's more certain that they'll lay in their nest boxes. My ducks have their eggs laid by the time I go out in the morning to let them out, so they get to free-range all day. I tell my kids to take a lesson from the ducks and get their work done early so that they too will have more time for the things they enjoy.

You'll hear from some folks who always let their hens out all day right from the beginning and still get eggs only in the nest boxes. But there's always a risk that it won't work for you, that your hen will be the one that gets the idea to lay in the yard instead and will have difficulty changing her little mind.