Egg laying

[paulsooie]

Ok so I started letting my chickens free range during the day. I finally found my first egg yesterday in the coop, but not in the nesting box. Do I need to keep them in the coop til they lay or can I keep letting them out ANC they will come back to lay? First time with chickens, and I just don't want them to lay all their eggs where I can't find them.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

It is best to build the habit of laying in the coop - while your birds *may* return on their own with no "coop training" it is just (or more) as likely that they will simply find themselves nests of their own choosing out in their ranging area. That being said, how big of an area are we talking about that they are ranging on? For example, a normal suburban back yard vs. 5 acres of open grassy, bush covered, etc land -- the former making it much more likely that they would naturally return to the coop with no "training" than the latter.
A good happy medium for you and the birds is to keep them confined to the coop and run area for the morning/early afternoon (prime laying times, though you will still come across some later afternoon layers) and then letting them out once most of the birds have laid their egg for that day. After a few weeks of consistently laying in the nests in the coop you can try some trial run time of letting them range all day and see who does/doesn't return to the coop. If you see a reduction in your daily egg count when they are out all day you'll know that you have some who have chosen to nest/lay elsewhere and respond accordingly.

 

[paulsooie]

Thank you