Nest boxes in coop and run?

[kdavis228]

Should I have nest boxes in my coop and run or just leave my coop door open all day? I plan on letting them out every morning and putting them up every night, just not sure what time of day they lay? Any info would b great, thanks!

 

[Bev in Nevada]

I have four who lay between 9am and 1030am, and I have four who lay between 5pm and 6pm. I have nest boxes only inside, I also kept them in the hen house for three/four days without letting them out so they would know where to lay and where to roost at night. For the first week out in the yard, I "left a light on for them" in the hen house. (There IS something to that hotel commercial LOL, "We'll leave a light on for you") Now, even though they have a huge 1/2 acre to wander on, I do not have to hunt for eggs. They place them neatly all in the same nest box (though there is three nesting boxes, the other two boxes are not preferred)

 

[gryeyes]

What Bev said.

The chicken door to the coop opens in the morning after dawn and closes at dusk. It's open all day, for the ladies to go back inside to lay. Then they come back outside to do chickeny things.

If you keep them confined in the coop for a week or so, they will naturally want to return to it to lay their eggs. Of course, there is always an exception to any rule...

With that said, understand that it takes about 26 hours to "make" an egg. This means the hen may lay in the morning and then the succeeding days will lay later and later until she skips a day. Then it starts all over again. It's not like all hens have schedules in their heads, by breed, telling Australorps to lay at 10 a.m. and RIRs to lay at 11, etc. Each hen's laying cycle will generally change through a cycle.

 

[kdavis228]

TX alot I think ill just leave the door open all day and let them come and go as they please. Also since they will b locked up at night, what kind of protection should I have around my 12 by 24 run.