Putting in Coop for first time

[Happy Hatchings]

I have searched and searched and can't figure out how long to keep my young ladies in their new coop for the first time. We are getting ready to move them out of the garage and into their coop and have read anything from 3 days to a week, please help!

 

[Pork Pie]

Split the difference and go for 5 days? There are no hard and fast rules. If the coop is in an enclosed run, then maybe try 3 days.

CT

 

[Happy Hatchings]

Thank you! We don't have enclosed run but we have one of those portable fences, I was going to put it around the coop to start with. This coop is a mansion that my hubby us building!

 

[Pork Pie]

You got yourself a good hubby!

 

[bullrunslabs]

I have done four different batches of chickens, and each time I put them in the coop in the evening, let them sleep in there. The next day I fed and watered them in the coop. That evening, I opened the door to a small temporary run for about the last two hours of daylight. I would have to put one or two back out of 35-45 birds. The second day I would open it in the morning, and the third day I removed the run. I have had a very good success rate doing it this way. Occasionally for about the first week, maybe one or two birds wouldn't go back in, but they also didn't wander far, usually laying down on the outside of the door or on the edge of the building.

 

[Pork Pie]

I have done four different batches of chickens, and each time I put them in the coop in the evening, let them sleep in there. The next day I fed and watered them in the coop. That evening, I opened the door to a small temporary run for about the last two hours of daylight. I would have to put one or two back out of 35-45 birds. The second day I would open it in the morning, and the third day I removed the run. I have had a very good success rate doing it this way. Occasionally for about the first week, maybe one or two birds wouldn't go back in, but they also didn't wander far, usually laying down on the outside of the door or on the edge of the building.

That sounds like a good system that the OP could try most certainly.

 

[smithy2421]

When we got our chickens (we have a green portable fence around the garden so they don't ruin all the garden!!) we just let them out we didn't keep them in they will find out what to do and when to go to bed but it's your choice do whatever makes you feel comfortable

 

[SteveMadonnaJ]

We put our 4 wk old Rhode Island's in their coop yesterday for the first time. My wife and I watched them for about an hour or so, and let them run around in their run for a little bit. While the both of us are gone at our jobs, in the evenings and during the night, they will be closed up in their coop. When we get home (I am home at about 3 in the afternoon), the coop will be open and they will be out for a few hours.

 

[donrae]

When folks ask this, I'm always wondering if they're differentiating between a run and free ranging.

I don't see a point in keeping birds confined to a coop and not allowing them into a run if one is available. Yes, they might need some assistance finding where to sleep for a night or so, but other than that, there's no problem with letting them into the run.

Free ranging is another story. When you bring new birds home, or move littles outside, you should keep them confined for a few days, however long it takes them to reliably sleep where you want them to. Then, let them out in the evening as described above. They have a strong instinct to return to their safe sleeping place.

 

[azygous]

My chicks are raised in a chick pen in the run. When they reach age three weeks, they are then permitted access to the entire run, returning to their chick pen when they feel stressed by the pecking order.

During this period, the run is open for the adult chickens to go out at will to free range. The chicks generally will not be the least bit interested in going out of the run, though they are free to do so. It's not until they are close to five or six weeks old before they get up the courage to venture out of the run. Meanwhile, they have been living in the coop since they turned five weeks old and go in each night on their own.

They will hang around within a few feet of the run for another week or two before slowly ranging farther.

Keeping chicks cooped up in a coop really has no value, as far as I've observed. Chicks are going to be pretty conservative about ranging far from the safety of their coop and run until they feel good and ready.