Egg Laying and Letting Chicken Run Around

[conryf]

Hello,
We have 6 Rhode Island Reds and they are starting to lay eggs. One question we have is, should we only let them out of the coop/run area for short period of time or for a certain time each day? We are worried the chickens will lay outside the coop if they are out and about. Or is this a non issue cause they can "hold" it?

Thank you,
Frank

 

[WIchickMama]

How long have they been living in the coop? Do they have access to the coop all day long? Do you free range or do they stay in an attached run area?

 

[conryf]

Thanks so much for the reply!

They have been in the coop about 3-4 months. We try to let them out everyday but since they started laying we have been keeping them in the coop/run area until later in the day, let them out early afternoon for a couple hours. If they have coop access will they go in there to lay? Also, if you leave the coop door open when they are running around isnt there a danger that squirells and things steal their food?

 

[WIchickMama]

I don't free range but many of the other members here do (as well as a couple of my close chicken keeper friends). All of the individuals that keep chickens and free range (that I know of or know personally) do keep their coops open during the day for 100% access.

I am not sure that you need to keep food in the coop-especially if free ranging (or even if confined to the run area). Some people do, some people do not. I do not keep any food or water in my coop only in their run area.

I suppose there is the risk of other animals getting into their coop for food during the day, but that might be a risk that you take when free ranging your chickens.

If you don't allow access to the coop, you could occasionally have a chicken that lays somewhere other than the coop. I mean, most of my ladies lay between early and late morning, but like yesterday I had one lay at 7 pm right before roosting!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Is the area outside of the coop/run fenced? My neighbor let's chickens and ducks run all over the place and in return she only gets a few eggs a day because they are laying in pastures and everywhere but their nests, lol

 

[conryf]

yeah there is no fencing, its just woods. So I'm better off keeping them in the run/coop for as long as possible to get the most eggs?

 

[ChickyWhicky]

My girls just started laying a few weeks ago. I free range all day and they have access to coop at all times. Mine go inside the coop to lay. I havent found any eggs laid outside the coop yet BUT a friend of mine has hens who lay outside the coop on occasion. When they start doing this she keeps them in the run until afternoon and only allows them to free range in afternoons. This seems to keep the egg laying to the coop as they dont really have a choice.
Do you feel like your hens are comfy and secure in the coop? I believe if they dont feel secure in the coop chances are they will find somewhere else to lay if the oppurtunity is there.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

As long as you do leave the coop open, they will go back to lay. I've always let mine out and I've never had a problem with eggs. Chicken's don't really "hold it," so do leave it open. You can leave food in the run during the day and they will go back and forth. Try using a galvanized garbage can to lock up food at night though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi. Welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

First, we cannot give you guarantees about chicken behaviors. We can tell you what we expect to happen most of the time but there are always going to be exceptions.

We have 6 Rhode Island Reds and they are starting to lay eggs. One question we have is, should we only let them out of the coop/run area for short period of time or for a certain time each day?

Some people always keep them confined to the coop/run. Some people let them have total access outside the coop/run after they wake up in the morning. Some let them out for a portion of the day, sometimes supervised, sometimes without supervision.

Any time you let them free range there is a risk that you can lose one to a predator. Some of us can go years without a loss. Some people lose chickens the first time they try it. You may get lucky but if you free range you are at high risk to lose one or more chickens to a predator over time.

We are worried the chickens will lay outside the coop if they are out and about. Or is this a non issue cause they can "hold" it?

Once a chicken learns to lay in a certain spot she normally returns there every time to lay in that spot. If that spot is in your coop she returns to the coop if she has access. If that spot is in the woods she returns to the woods as long as she has access. When she is ready to lay the egg she will travel a long way to get back to her nest. So you want them to learn to lay in the nests in the coop. You might keep them locked up in the coop/run until they are in that habit. I find that if I have hens laying in the nests the new pullets just starting to lay usually learn from those hens where to lay. Not always, but usually.

There are exceptions to this. A hen might stop laying in her nest in the coop and start laying somewhere else in the coop, in the run, or in the woods. She can lay somewhere else in the coop or run even if she does not have access to the woods. You see a lot of posts on here where people think their hens are not laying. One reason people think that is that the hens are laying, but they've hidden a nest from them.

Once mine learn to lay in a nest in the coop they practically always return there to lay. But as I said above, I can't give you guarantees as to what they will do. There can always be exceptions.

if you leave the coop door open when they are running around isnt there a danger that squirells and things steal their food?

Yes, if the coop door is open anything that can get in the run can get in the coop. If the run gate is open anything can get in there. That can be things like squirrels, and chipmunks after the food to raccoons possum, and skunks that might want the eggs, chickens, or the food, or snakes that might eat the eggs baby chicks if you have babies. A typical problem is wild birds getting the food. Wild birds are worse if you feed the chickens in the run but I have them come into my coop after feed too. Some of us worry about this kind of thing more than others.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello,
We have 6 Rhode Island Reds and they are starting to lay eggs. One question we have is, should we only let them out of the coop/run area for short period of time or for a certain time each day? We are worried the chickens will lay outside the coop if they are out and about. Or is this a non issue cause they can "hold" it?

Thank you,
Frank

Hello conryf.
Welcome to BYC,

No they can't really hold it; at least not for very long and even if they do there is no guarantee they will lay in the coop.
You could of course join the nest hunting team. It's part of the fun of keeping free range chickens and can be part of the fun of ranging chickens in general.
So, the question you need to ask yourself is do you want happy chickens, or do you want all the eggs they lay.
You can have both, but one requires more effort on the part of the keeper.