Moving Hens from free range to Coop and Run

[spiceholler]

Due to very severe predator pressure this year, I've re homed a large percentage of my flock leaving four of my young hens, about 5 months old, into a secure coop and run. This was their previous coop that we modified to include an enclosed run.

It's been over a week and they haven't been laying. I don't underestimate the emotional intelligence of these birds, and so part of it may be the shock, but I've found they usually recover pretty well so I don't think it's that.

I've been feeding them lots of treats and lots of weeds and fresh grass to ease their transition.

It has been very hot, but their coop is right by the creek under a large tree.

Is this normal?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Big change+lots of treats+heat is a great recipe for a break from laying. Any one of those could affect laying but all three is more than enough. I would cut the treats since it’s the one thing you can control.

 

[spiceholler]

sorry, I think I wasn't clear, by treats I meant just the usual food scraps and weeds that they would normally get foraging, and from the compost heap.

they have always had access to the compost heap next to their coop so when we fenced in their run, we made sure they still had access to that.

I was hoping they would use the area under the coop for their dust baths, so perhaps I should build a better dust bath area...they might not like the straw that's collected their over the years.

Meanwhile, I can at least let them out to find a suitable location under supervision, but it has to be near bed time since two of the four aren't easy to grab.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

That makes sense-I took it like you felt guilty for moving them so you were giving them extra corn and worms or something haha. I have had hens take breaks from laying just because I rearranged something in the coop or run. Were they laying eggs in the coop you moved them to? Like when they could free range did they go into this coop they’re living in now to lay eggs?

 

[Mrs. K]

Heat will quickly reduce laying.