free range dilemma

[aldarita]

coconutprincess, I recently installed an automatic pullet door in my run (2 of my coops share a long run).
It was the best thing we have ever done. The door works with a photocell so in the morning it opens at daylight and in the evening it closes at dusk regardless of the time.
I used to get up very early in the morning to let them out and closing the door in the evening always interfere with our dinner time. Now I don't have to worry about it. It is great!!!

 

[teach1rusl]

For any coop, permanent or tractor, I would leave the birds contained for a few weeks so that they learn where "home" is. They'll also learn that this is where their feed is. Personally, I would offer feed free choice. You'll find that in the warm seasons, they'll eat much less feed - but they'll still eat it. They eat a lot more feed during the cold months, when green grass and insects are but a distant dream.

I don't deal with ants in my feed. I do battle mice, but they can get into the feeders even when they're hung. And I battle wild birds eating from the feeders... So you may just have to explore what works best for you. Whether you hang the feeders or place them on blocks, do make sure they're about chest high to help keep them from spooning the feed out...

When you begin to let them out for free ranging, they won't venture very far at first...sometimes it may take them days to even leave their pen. Maybe start by letting them out just an hour or two before dusk...You might put a little battery operated push light inside their housing, and turn that on before dusk -the light may attract them toward "safety." Just push it off when you shut the tractor up for the evening.

One last thing...train your birds with a scratch jar/can (many call scratch "chicken crack"). Many people give their birds a handful of scratch a day as a treat. Keep it in a container that makes noise when you shake it. BEFORE you begin letting them out to range, traing them - shake the container and say "chick-chick" or whatever you want your call to be, then sprinkle some scratch about. They love scratch! Training them this way insures that they will come running whenever you need them. So if they don't go back into their run/tractor, just shake their treat container and toss some scratch inside - it's almost non-fail as long as they've been trained.

Good luck! Have fun!

 

[patti17340]

I have an inside chicken feeder and an outside feeder and water . I open the door to the coop about 6:30 am, I am getting an automatic door . They hang in the coop until about 7- 7:30 . I find they come in and out of the coop during the day to eat and lay eggs. Some days I do not think they even eat any of the chicken feed in the feeders . Now if the weather in bad and they are locked in all day they eat about 5 lbs of feed a day. So it pays to let them free range. They hang out in my back yard area all day playing under the pine trees . At 6:20 -6:30 they head back to the coop. I offer them nothing .. at 7:15 the coop is locked up and heads counted to make sure everyone is home safe and sound. Now that colder weather is coming I am putiing up a fenced in area for them to hang in when I am at work. I will let them out when I get home . Too many hungry raccoons and skunks during the cold months.

 

[chick'n'weave]

Love the pictures. Thanks. What is your flooring? Linoleum? Do you put any bedding material across the floor or just in nests? How high off the ground? Do you have windows on the front side where the door is? I noticed the nest boxes are on floor level as opposed to being raised. Have seen pics of both ......don't know advantages or disadvantages one way or the other.

thanks to all who have responded to this post. Your ideas have been most helpful. I read books all the time about raising chickens, but frankly I get my best information from all the BYCF folks!

 

[teach1rusl]

I'm not sure who you're asking/talking to, but since I'm here I'll respond for myself. We have three different coops (it feels like a coop town...lol). I used vinyl flooring in two, and the little 12x12 sticky tiles in the other (NEVER again - bad idea, as they eventually being peeling up). I used pine bedding inside the housings in all coops, more in winter, less in summer.

All of my nest boxes are wall mounted mounted, except in my serama coop, where I just used stackable bins.

I use dropping boards in all of my coop housings (you didn't ask, but I love them, so I'm "selling" them). Dropping boards make clean-up so easy, as the overnight poop falls onto a "shelf"' rather than into the bedding. Just use a 4-6" putty knive to scrape the poo into a bucket each morning - takes less than a minute and saves on bedding replacement...

The advantage of using elevated nesting boxes AND dropping boards is that they don't take away from floor space. All of my floor space is useable. Plus if you go with inside feeders or waterers, they can be placed beneath the dropping boards, so they don't get poo in them...

Oh, and all of my coops have windows. Two have "people" windows on at least three walls, and one, my bantam coop, just has cut out windows (with hardware cloth nailed over of course). On the cut-out windows, I just screw plexiglass over the openings in the winter time. Windows are very beneficial, not just for helping get breezes in the summer time, but to allow the sun's heat in during the winter months...

 

[LanceTN]

Love the pictures.   Thanks.  What is your flooring?  Linoleum?  Do you put any bedding material across the floor or just in nests?   How high off the ground?   Do you have windows on the front side where the door is?  I noticed the nest boxes are on floor level as opposed to being raised.  Have seen pics of both ......don't know advantages or disadvantages one way or the other.   

thanks to all who have responded to this post.   Your ideas have been most helpful.   I read books all the time about raising chickens, but frankly I get my best information from all the BYCF folks!

I don't have any windows. I don't want to mess up my ventilation by screwing with smooth airflow and I just haven't decided if I want solid windows. Anyway they would be easy enough to add in later.

In order to encourage the birds to sleep on the roosts and not in your nest boxes the roosts need to be higher. The exact design of the nest boxes was dictated by my need to have access to eggs from the outside and to give the birds privacy on the nest.

The floor is OSB sheeting, sealed with wood sealant and after the pictures were taken it was covered in a few inches of sand for bedding.

Any other questions?

 

[chick'n'weave]

Sooooo helpful. Thanks for your time.