Hi Everyone,
Our flock consists of:
22 1-year old Golden Comets hens
10 4-month old Plymouth Rock hens
6 4-month old Plymouth Rock roosters
1 Mixed breed rooster
We've never had chickens before until just over year ago, when we got the Golden Comets. With them, at some point in time last year, we've taught them a night-time routine with which we've stuck since then. They free range for a few hours a day, until about an hour before sunset. Then, they get called, they see food, and it's quite easy to get them locked up in the chicken coop - they just follow and it's a matter of closing the doors behind. Very rarely there are stragglers.
With the additions of Plymouth Rock hens, things had to change. Once they were 8-weeks old, we introduced them into the coop. In the afternoon, we'd still let Golden Comets leave the coop, with young Plymouth Rocks staying behind (mostly for the fear of losing them - we've had them happen). A few weeks ago we started to change this and let the Plymouth Rocks be "partially outside" - basically, in a large 10 x 20 foot chicken cage next to the coop.
For about a week we've been playing around with letting some out of the cage and free range with adult hens.
Today we let out all of them... And it was a disaster.
No issues with adult hens, called them and got them into the coop with no effort, as usual. With the young ones, except for two, they all stayed behind. Eventually, after some herding back into the cage, I was able to capture all of them except for two, which probably hid somewhere in the tall grass.
So, now, I'm thinking... Should I persist with the effort? I think the alternative could be - just give them food, and if they want to leave the coop, let them. Keep it open. We've never actually done that. What I am afraid of is that they'll roost outside of the coop, or perhaps they'll go missing.
I didn't mention young roosters... Because there's literally no problems with them. They act just like adult hens, as far as the routine is concerned. It's been SO MUCH easier to integrate them, compared to the hens.
Our flock consists of:
22 1-year old Golden Comets hens
10 4-month old Plymouth Rock hens
6 4-month old Plymouth Rock roosters
1 Mixed breed rooster
We've never had chickens before until just over year ago, when we got the Golden Comets. With them, at some point in time last year, we've taught them a night-time routine with which we've stuck since then. They free range for a few hours a day, until about an hour before sunset. Then, they get called, they see food, and it's quite easy to get them locked up in the chicken coop - they just follow and it's a matter of closing the doors behind. Very rarely there are stragglers.
With the additions of Plymouth Rock hens, things had to change. Once they were 8-weeks old, we introduced them into the coop. In the afternoon, we'd still let Golden Comets leave the coop, with young Plymouth Rocks staying behind (mostly for the fear of losing them - we've had them happen). A few weeks ago we started to change this and let the Plymouth Rocks be "partially outside" - basically, in a large 10 x 20 foot chicken cage next to the coop.
For about a week we've been playing around with letting some out of the cage and free range with adult hens.
Today we let out all of them... And it was a disaster.
No issues with adult hens, called them and got them into the coop with no effort, as usual. With the young ones, except for two, they all stayed behind. Eventually, after some herding back into the cage, I was able to capture all of them except for two, which probably hid somewhere in the tall grass.
So, now, I'm thinking... Should I persist with the effort? I think the alternative could be - just give them food, and if they want to leave the coop, let them. Keep it open. We've never actually done that. What I am afraid of is that they'll roost outside of the coop, or perhaps they'll go missing.
I didn't mention young roosters... Because there's literally no problems with them. They act just like adult hens, as far as the routine is concerned. It's been SO MUCH easier to integrate them, compared to the hens.
