Free ranging roosters

[Bellie816]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had tips on free ranging birds. I have 18 chickens and 5 of them are roosters... 3 of them were becoming quite a problem with aggressiveness towards the flock, so instead of putting them in the frying pan we decided to free range the 3. We built a smaller dog-house style coop next to the large coop and they seem to be doing okay. A few questions:

1) Is it normal for them to just hang around the other coop fence all day? Our amber link seems to just pace around the fence line.The 2 rhode island reds seem to venture off into the woods.

2) They don't sleep in their new coop.... they sleep out in the woods. Is this normal?

We wanted to originally free range our entire flock, but learned the hens would lay eggs out in the woods. We have 3 1/2 acres heavily wooded and do not want to go on an easter egg hunt everyday.

ANY info would be greatly appreciated as I am a new chicken owner!

Thanks!

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

You have come to the right place....
In my experience ....when I first started with chickens I was told to keep them in the coop for a couple days...with water and feed and ventalation....so they learn from each other where the eggs should go...always helps if you have a "been there done that" chicken....helps if you put golf balls ...fake eggs in the nest box because they'll think if another hen laid there it must be a good spot...and then you can start letting them out an hour or so before dusk and slowly increase it..and hopefully they'll head back to the coop to roost...In those couple days that there in the coop you may have to show them at night how to roost.....we ended up putting a small yard attached to the coop which is predator proof so they could still get fresh air when I wasnt around to watch them or we had fox/hawk problems... The roosters I am not sure of ....I have had two adults at one time and they were getting aggressive with each other and the hens so they visited my wonderful elderly Italian neighbours for some chicken broth...In the future I like to make a seperate coop and yard for when I want to breed some chickens for eggs that are fertile ...but right now I get fertile eggs from my friends and neighbours to put under my broody hens to hatch out...Hope i helped you...theres alot more info on here also...good luck

 

[Bellie816]

Thanks for your help!

 

[bja105]

Predators will probably solve your extra rooster problem. You might want to eat them yourselves.

 

[gritsar]

Free ranging doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have to get used to easter egg hunts.
I locked my flock in their coop long enough to get used to it being home and for my hens to get used to the nestboxes. Now they free range all over the place, but the hens come back to the coop to lay their eggs.
I keep track of my daily egg count and would know if they were laying elsewhere. In fact, I've done searches for hidden nests several times because I'd love to have a broody, but nope! my hens prefer their nestboxes.

 

[cybercat]

Quote:
You have to coop train them. They should stay locked up in the coop for a week or two before letting to free range. This way they come back to coop to lay eggs and sleep. You can let hens out and they will lay in coop if they are trained to lay there. When someone starts laying outside of coop they get locked back in for a week to retrain them to the coop. If you want info on free ranging I am part of a free ranging yahoo group just send me a PM and I will send you a link to it.