Starting to free range

Hello All!

I am new to chickens but I have recieved/purchased 12 hens and one rooster and they have been locked in their new coop for about a week. They came to me from friends and neighbors who free ranged them but I wanted them to fully get used to their new home before I let them loose.

We are on a 600 acre ranch and the coop is in one of the fenced paddocks but the chickens will basically have access to go wherever. My plan is to open their chicken door on my way to work every day (approx. 7am) and let them explore, forage, etc and then hopefully by the time I come home from work (approx. 5:30pm) they will have nestled back into their coop and I can just close their door.

Is it silly to assume they will go back into their coop or am I going to have to be running around herding chickens every night? Also, all my layers do their laying in the mid to late afternoon (between 1:30 and 4), will they go back into their nesting boxes when the time comes or will I have to hunt around for eggs?

Sorry for the stupid questions!

Faydra

 

Where we are, 5:30 is at dusk this time of year. I will be on maternity leave at the end of March so I will be available as the days get longer to go down and close it up. I just hope everyone goes in and I'm not chasing chickens with a newborn strapped to me in the dark!

 

Thank you so much Mrs. K and everyone for your great advise and info!

We are in BC, Canada and unfortunately airborn predators are very prevalent - eagles, hawks, huge ravens, you name it - we got it. We don't have an enclosed run at all but we built the coop near several large trees not only for shade in the summer but for added protection from airborn attacks.

We don't tolerate coyotes or bears on the ranch as they are very hard on the fawn and calf populations in the spring. There are very few lynx or bobcat around and I've never seen a fox.

I do have one rooster but he is only 6-7 months old and a bit of a suck. Hopefully as he gets older he will start to become more protective of his girls.

I let them out for the first time a couple of days ago, just to see how they would do. All but one hen came out and started exploring and happily picking around in the grass. They were out for about five minutes when all of a sudden my one hen made a mad dash for the coop and everyone followed her. I wasn't sure what happened so I closed their door and was about to leave when my husband pointed out a large raven that was flying overhead. I'm happy that they recognized the raven and immediately ran for safety but nervous that it only took five minutes before I had a predator scoping out my hens!!

I will be letting them all out again on Saturday so I can do a big cleaning of their coop. Hopefully all goes well but if I suffer any loses we will be building a fully enclosed run asap.

 

Thanks Hennible!!

Do you have snow yet where you are? Any tips on keeping the girls warm over winter? We built our coop fully insulated (even the nesting boxes) with two large overhead heating lamps and we have a thermostat that regulates the temperature and monitors humidy levels. Right now we are keeping the inside temp around 11 degrees and humidity hovers between 55-70% (depending on outside levels).