Newbie needs advice!

[Caymanbaby29]

Hello! I've spent a bunch of time on this site when I was planning my chicken coop. I built it all by myself (with no construction skills to speak of) and while it isn't square its sturdy. Lol.
It is inside of my barn and there is a run attached. Eventually we plan to build another large run outside in the horse pasture (don't like the horses right up beside the metal barn so a chicken run to keep them off seems win win)
Anyway I saw an ad in my local paper for year old laying hens from the local Hutterite colony and I picked up 7 of them instead of getting chicks. They looked a little rough missing large patches of feathers etc. But they have calmed down quite a bit now. I have had them locked inside the coop and not in the run until they figure out what is home. I have three nesting boxes and lots of roosting options but none of them are on the roosts. They are laying eggs and also sleeping in the nesting boxes. It has been kindof chilly around here since they arrived. Likely warmer in there. I'm thinking that they were not in a situation at the colony where they knew about runs and roosts. How long do I keep them in the coop before letting them into the run? I don't imagine I can make them roost? Maybe they will get it sorted out? I've been feeding them kitchen veggie scraps along with regular chicken feed. They seem to knock over the water a lot. Do they go back into their house at night on their own? Eventually?
How do you go about free ranging them? We have a couple hundred acres here but the yard is about 8. We do have other animals (horses cat and a dog) not sure how they will all react! First the weather needs to warm up. For real.

thanks

 

[Grain Gypsy]

Hello! I've spent a bunch of time on this site when I was planning my chicken coop. I built it all by myself (with no construction skills to speak of) and while it isn't square its sturdy. Lol.
It is inside of my barn and there is a run attached. Eventually we plan to build another large run outside in the horse pasture (don't like the horses right up beside the metal barn so a chicken run to keep them off seems win win)
Anyway I saw an ad in my local paper for year old laying hens from the local Hutterite colony and I picked up 7 of them instead of getting chicks. They looked a little rough missing large patches of feathers etc. But they have calmed down quite a bit now. I have had them locked inside the coop and not in the run until they figure out what is home. I have three nesting boxes and lots of roosting options but none of them are on the roosts. They are laying eggs and also sleeping in the nesting boxes. It has been kindof chilly around here since they arrived. Likely warmer in there. I'm thinking that they were not in a situation at the colony where they knew about runs and roosts. How long do I keep them in the coop before letting them into the run? I don't imagine I can make them roost? Maybe they will get it sorted out? I've been feeding them kitchen veggie scraps along with regular chicken feed. They seem to knock over the water a lot. Do they go back into their house at night on their own? Eventually?
How do you go about free ranging them? We have a couple hundred acres here but the yard is about 8. We do have other animals (horses cat and a dog) not sure how they will all react! First the weather needs to warm up. For real.

thanks

Hi Caymanbaby29!

I would keep them locked up in the roost 2-3 weeks. I would do 3 to be on the safe side with these guys. Seems like they might have come from chaos! The reading I've done about how to teach them to come back to the roost at night indicates that keeping them coop-bound for the 2-3 weeks when initially introducing them to a new coop should allow them to know where home is and to go back. Furthermore, I guess some chickens sometimes get lax or forget to come home at night to roost and, in that case, another week or so of coop confinement to remind them is needed.

That being said, we successfully transitioned our flock to the coop around 10 weeks old. We left them in the coop for 3 weeks. The coop door was then opened on nice days for them to free-range and voila! They came back in around dusk and hopped up on their roost. The only stragglers we ever had were our two Polishes. I had read that their crests sometimes prevent them from locating "home" at night. This seemed to be true with ours a couple of nights. We would find them standing outside the coop door the next morning, waiting to be reunited with their flock mates.

Now, on to the roosting. Are the roosting bars higher than your nest boxes? They will roost on whatever is highest in the coop, so if your nest boxes are higher than the roost, they will use the nest boxes as roosts. Also, can they get to the roosts? Some chickens are flyers and others really stink at it. Also, it is possible your chickens had their wings clipped by their previous owner. They need a way to get up there.

If you've already provided these things for them, they may need some physical help to understand how to roost. I had to do this with our chickens. I would go out to check on them at night and find them all huddled together on the coop floor. I would physically catch them all and place them on the roost to sleep. About a week of doing this finally taught them, and they have gone to roost on their own at night ever since.

Some people let chickens totally free-range, allowing them to roost in trees and fend for themselves. It would be interesting to know what technique was used with your chickens before you adopted them, based on their interesting behavior.

A good resource, if you are new to chicken-keeping is the book The My Pet Chicken Handbook. Blog resources that I find helpful are The Chicken Chick, and Fresh Eggs Daily.

I hope all this helps! God bless you and your chicken-keeping endeavors!

 

[DanEP]

I agree keep them locked in the coop for awhile, sometimes a week will do but if they were sort of running wild it could take longer. the first thing you need to do is make sure the roost is higher than the nest boxes. Next just before bedtime block all the nest boxes so they can't sleep in them.It doesn't take much even cardboard will work as long as they can't knock it over. Chickens poop all night long so sleeping in nest box = very dirty eggs, and once they get in the habit of sleeping there it can be very hard to break them of the habit just make sure you open them up during the day for laying.Chickens don't see well in the dark so if everybody is settled in on the roost you can pull the cardboard for the next days laying as long as it's dark enough they can't see to move.You may have to go into the coop after dark and put them on the roost for a few days but they will catch on. Just wait till dark tho or they will get down.Chickens are like people in that some go to bed early and some wait till the last minute so don't worry about stragglers as long as they roost up by dark and chasing them around at dusk is a pain.
As far as the temp goes their fine you don't need to wait for warmer weather they will go outside in the winter and be ok. After a week or so try letting them out into the run and see if the go to bed own their own. If not just lock them in the coop again for a while. I would leave them in the coop and run for a couple of weeks till they are roosting up on their own or at least going back in at night and the coop is home then start letting them out for about an hour before dark slowly increasing the time their out. Another thing you can do is find a treat they like and give it to them in the run late in the day to help them get in the habit of going in the run at night.Some birds learn quick some take longer but they will get it sooner or later. Good luck Dan

On the water if you can't hang it try putting it in a corner so they can't get behind it some times that helps.