New chicken owner: Am I doing it right?

[india30]

My husband and I inherited 5 hens and 2 roosters last year and we have 3 hens sitting on eggs. We've never had chickens before and we're really dumb on the subject but we'd like to do the best we can at raising them. The previous owners of the house we bought left them behind and their coop is an old cotton trailer flipped upside down with lots of milk crates for their roosts. I believe this is a sufficient coop, however, last fall a stray dog broke into the coop and all of the chickens escaped and are now running loose in the yard. We have since fixed the coop but still haven't succeeded in getting the chickens back in it. Any tips on catching them would be greatly appreciated.
Also, we feed them crimped corn and whatever leftover veggies or greens I may have but we feed on the ground since they are running loose. Is it better to have a feeder and waterer and should we be feeding them a variety rather than just the corn?
Any tips on the new chicks about to hatch? I've been told to let the mother take care of them but I'm afraid with them running loose they may get killed by coyotes or yet another stray dog. Our hopes were to catch them before they get too mobile and put them all in the coop with their mothers so that we'd have better access to them and thet'd be safe in a shelter. As I said we are chicken ignorant at this point but considering the fact that we're going to have baby chicks in about 2 weeks, I think I need to educate myself as much as possible in these next few days. Thank you all for your patience and any feedback I may get.

WannabeChickenLady

 

[kathyinmo]

So glad you are here!

I would throw out some scratch or treats into an area that you could capture them in. Say, like a small fenced in area, or even a make-shift type of enclosure. I have a 10 foot length of chicken wire that I curl into a circle and catch with. I also have a huge fishing net that I have used in the past.

Feed should be Layer feed (or Flock Raiser type) for the Layers. For the new chicks you would get chick starter or chick starter-grower.

There are other areas on BYC that you will find have tons of information on these topics. .... ie "Raising Chick," or "Feeding."

Best of luck to you, and happy to see you here!

 

[damarisgw]

Catch em at night when theyre asleep

 

[SaltLakeSpice]

If you want to keep them around, I would catch them for exactly the reason you said, protection. To do that, I agree with damarisgw. If you wait til they are asleep, they are very easy to catch. They go into to a near coma like state and as long as they are somewhere you can reach them, you can just scoop them up.
As for feeding them, you should get a more balanced feed. Corn alone doesn't have all the nutrients that they need.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[MareeZoCool]

from Ohio You are wise to start your information search right here! This forum is filled with kind people, plenty of info.

 

[schellie69]

you mentioned a coop is there a fenced run attached to the coop where you could herd them or put them in there for a month so that they learn that is there home. if you don't have a run I would build a run attached to the coop so that you can protect them better I also agree round them up at night and put them in the coop/run area for at least a few weeks until they are used to that being their home. then you can let them out to free range, get a good flock feeder with at least 16% protein for the layers and offer oyster shell use corn or scratch as treats only you can also get the chicks the chick starter which is medicated. and put that in with the mom's and the chicks in a small pen/coop if you can divided the pen/coop it might be better. if you post some pics of your setup we could help you figure out what would be the best for you and your chickens. and this is the site there is so much good information on here if you can't find the answer to a question just ask someone on here will know the answer. good luck with your chickens...

 

[india30]

Thank you all so much for the info! I had no idea about catching them at night. I had heard they were in a coma-like state when they slept but wasn't sure if it was true or not. They usually get up in a pile of brush at night or in a tree but it's worth a try. I also considered trying to "net" them but the makeshift cage sounds like a good idea too! I'll try to get some pics of the coop on here soon. And i also need to look into getting a different type of feed or at least something to go along with it.