Hi what great information. I am a new chicken momma. Hubby went over board and bought me 30 tetra tints 20 Plymouth barred rocks 5 RIRs and 2 ducks. He doesn't do anything small. Lol anywho. They are fast approaching the time when they will be put out to free range. We are converting an old she'd into a coop. We live in the country so no worries about neighbors. How do I go about letting them out and free ranging? How do I train them to go back in at night. Like I said I am new and have read a ton but cannot seem to find what I am looking for. Thanks for reading
I'm not sure what tetra tints are -- a type of chicken?? If so, wow, that's a lot of birds to start out with! Your learning curve is going to be really steep.
Be sure your shed to coop conversion has adequate ventilation, especially with that many birds. There are several threads on BYC that deal with coop design. You'll need to be very careful in TN to control drafts, but not limit ventilation, as you'll likely have issues with frostbite or respiratory problems if you don't get the balance right. As illogical as it seems, adequate ventilation prevents frostbite.
I always surround the coop (chicken house) with a predator-proof run that is locked at night. Weather permitting, I leave the pop door (just big enough for chickens to get through) to the coop open 24/7, once I'm confident that my run is totally predator-proof. I build the run large enough to well exceed "agricultural standards," which I think are 4 square feet per bird (I could be very wrong about that -- you'll need to look it up). Then I keep the birds in the coop/run for about a week. That way they have time to establish their roosting arrangement and know where they live. The first few days that I let them out I watch them very carefully, and try to be there as the light dims and they start going back into the run (the run should have both a pop door for the chickens and a larger door for people). Once everyone is inside, close and securely lock the run doors to prevent predators from killing your birds at night. If some of the birds have difficulty finding their way back you can look for them before it gets pitch black. With this many, you will probably just have to count each breed to know if someone's missing.
Chickens and turkeys (and I think ducks, although I have no personal experience with them) do not normally need to be trained to go back to their coop at night. It is instinct for them to seek a safe place as the light starts to dim. If they are already established in their coop/run, then that is normally where they go. There are some exceptions, such a when a hen goes broody, or when a bird gets too far out in the forest and can't get back in time, or with certain breeds. A broody hen will set on her nest regardless of the danger, so broodies need to be found and either the nest moved to a predator-safe area, or a predator-proof run needs to be built around her nest. Birds that go too far away from home may find a concealed place to hide overnight before going all the way home the next morning. And then there's Dorkings, which I have, who like to roost in trees no matter what the weather. Luckily they have chosen a fairly short tree right in front of my house. The tree is strong enough to lean a ladder against it, so I can retrieve them and put them in their safe coop every night. It's my only breed that does this, but their tree roosting instinct is just sooooo strong! I don't know if the entire breed is like this, or just my group.
Good luck with your birds.
