Keeping new layers 'cooped' up

[CKNNWBEE]

Our girls just started to lay. One lays at 8 am, one lays at 2 pm. Do we keep all of them in the coop all day? Can they go to their exercise pen, and do I make another nesting box there for the 2pm girl and the others that might want to lay? Is it confusing to them to have two nesting boxes?

 

[Judy]

I think you'll find they return to the coop on their own to lay -- unless you mean the coop and pen are separated so they can't move freely between them. If that's the case, then I'd put another nest in the pen. The times will gradually change. The norm is they lay once every 25 hours.

 

[skyblu]

chances are that your hens won't always lay at the same time of day anyway, so it's best, if possible, just to let them out in the morning but allowing them access back into their coop to lay their eggs at any time they want. Mine free range from 8 every morning and live in 3 separate coops - but each hen goes back to her own sleeping quarters to lay each day. Does your coop open into their run?

 

[CKNNWBEE]

That's where my confusion is. They are two separate places. Not near each other.