How long?

[cehasz]

I moved my second flock of chickens in with my old flock because of predator issues. I did this about two days ago and everyone is living peacefully. Every morning I let my old flock out because they free range and keep the others locked up since this coop is about 50 yards from their old coop. How long should I keep this up? My layer flock is getting upset because they don't have constant access to the nest boxes and now I'm afraid they will learn to lay somewhere else. I don't want the others to get lost. I cannot keep everyone locked up because I have too many roosters, they will go stir crazy, and their coop is only for bedtime. They free range on my property and even hide in the woods during the rain unless it's a really bad storm. Suggestions?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Close off the coop you want closed and let them all out now. At night they will almost certainly either go back to their old coop and try sleeping near there or go to the new coop. If they try sleeping near their old coop, just move them to the new coop after dark when they are easy to catch.

I do this a lot, moving them from the grow-out coop to the main coop. They are living animals so it is always possible yours will do something different, but I just close off the old coop when I want to move them. With my set-up they always sleep at the opening. I just go out after dark and toss them in the main coop.

Some normally catch on the first time, but usually some still go to the old coop. I just keep doing the same thing every night until they all catch on. Some of them may take more than a week to catch on.

I know you said you had predator issues. Instead of waiting until dark, you might want to be out there about dusk and kind of herd them to the new coop. Since they have been locked in there a bit they should know where it is and hopefully that won’t be too hard. Sometimes they can be a bit like herding cats though. I certainly would not want to teach the others to lay somewhere else.

Good luck!

 

[cehasz]

Let them out for a little bit today. They did great. Going to try the whole day tomorrow!