Letting chickens out of the pen?

[ellenofdappletree]

We are dabbling in chicken raising because my bf wants fresh eggs. So I bought some production chicks in the spring. well now they're getting all grown up. OMG! they grow so fast

We just finished a 6x6x4ft high tractor for our RIR breeding trio. but the 5 wyandotte hens are still in the brooding hutch. and they're almost full sized. To be fair the brooding hutch is a 3x5 hutch with a 5x5 run, so they're not suffering too much. I think. Anyways, my long term plan is to build a nice big chicken yard. with a coop on it. But that is several more weeks out.

The neighbor has free range chickens that wander all over his two acres and my one. They are welcome to do so. But he seems to lose a lot of them. And my aussie is a chicken chaser, but not a killer (yet)

She's well contained in our back yard, so its not a problem.

So now that I've rambled on with my sob story (or context, if you prefer)..... If I let the girls out when Leia (aka the lei-trocity) is not out, will they automatically go back into the coop at night? Will I have to teach them? How would I do that? Will I have an easter egg hunt on my hands when they start laying? Will they take up with the neighbors birds never to be caught again? I could use some insight.

 

[jenikay63]

Normal chickens will return to the coop at night to roost. My chickens are out all day and about 8:30-9:15 every night they return to the coop, climb up on the roost and go to sleep. I have 19 chickens that are 8 weeks old and I have not had any problems with them being out of the coop and not returning at night.

 

[Dogscatschickens]

My chickens have a large run protected with shade cloth, but when it gets close to 100 degrees I found it was best to let them out into the fenced yard and they tend to find the cooler spots. I have this little plan.. dogs inside at 1PM. Round up the chickens around 8PM. They will go in by themselves, but the dogs need to go...

But, be sure to count the chickens as they return to the coop, I have had a very bad experience when I didn't do that and the dogs found them under the pine trees.... Not good. I also have to watch out for Hawks until the chicks get too heavy for the Hawk to carry them off.

 

[plainsgirls]

My girls always return to the coop (outside run and hen house) at about dusk time, usually about 7:00 pm, I let mine out at about 3:00, I am usually home doing horse chores. My girls lay in the morning and mid-day so I have never had a problem with discovering eggs. A note about your aussie. I have a lab who has never been a problem with the chickens and I have a Jack Russell who was. I started to include the JR with chores etc. Somehow she figured out that the chickens were something that we take care of, she was more interested in "mousing" in the hen house. I would sit in the grass with the JR and the girls would come around, she got used to them..now she is the one that keeps the foxes away!! Good Luck! Include your aussie and correct her, she may want to herd them though...

 

[austinchicken]

We just started letting our little flock out a couple of weeks ago. We have had no problem with them returning on their own to the run (but our yard isn't 1-3 acres either); they go back in just before dusk. One day I let them out earlier in the afternoon, having forgotten that we were going to leave for a party later, from which we wouldn't return home until after dark. But I kept an eye on them, and at one point after a couple of hours they all headed back in, apparently having taken a cue from a couple of them who had wandered back into the coop to peck around at the scratch that I had scattered in there earlier. Maybe making sure that there is always food and a bit of scratch back in the run would ensure that they'll go back in from time to time? Perhaps they get tired/bored of looking for insects in the yard and will head back in from time to time to peck around at the sure thing?

 

[jelmer]

I let my chickens roam over 5 acres but always stay close to the coop and go back in to it at night but I havnt found any eggs but I have only had them for a couple weeks

 

[Equus5O]

I'd like to let my girls out of the run, but on my terms! I can't have them out all day. I don't know how I'll get them back into the run after only two hours or so.

 

[plainsgirls]

oh, so easy, give them a little treat from the house, it could be left over stuff from lunch, crackers, veggies etc., when mine see me coming out of the house...THEY COME RUNNING...and they follow me into the pen for the treat...works EVERY time...

 

[Equus5O]

I've had them less than two weeks now. Maybe in another week, I'll give it a try. I won't be able to let them out regularly though, and I feel badly about that. I don't think my mother will want the responsibility to watch out for them when I'm at work.

 

[ellenofdappletree]

Well we finally got the nerve to let our Wyadottes out of the coop last weekend, and I can say all me fears were completely unfounded. they pecked around the yard all day looking adorable. They came to me anytime I went in the yard and went back into their coop BY THEMSELVES at midday and then in the evening. Wow.

I always thought they didn't like me. I think though that they still don't, but look at me like I'm a vending machine. I can live with that, happily. I guess all those treats I have been feeding them paid off. Besides I love using of extra veggies that would otherwise rot in the fridge.

And our shepherd Leia chased them a little bit the first day, but was scolded and hasn't chased them since. And she was a huge chicken chaser. I even let het out in the yard for the specific purpose to chase off the neighbors guineas. I guess she knows the difference.

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. It really helped. I never would have risked it otherwise.