Will Free-Rangers use nesting boxes?

[apdan]

Quote:
I had to confine mine to the run for a week or two, they were free range all the time and when they started laying they had to be confined I think for a week.

daily egg hunts are not fun! my dog found a nest of eggs this spring from last fall.....................

 

[pgpoultry]

I wish my free range hens were as well behaved as some other folks' hens. Some of them lay anywhere BUT the nest boxes. One hen seems so crafty that she will always wait until the coop is open to scuttle off to goodness knows where to lay. We find a clutch of decaying eggs every now and then or a pile of shell bits if the crows found them first,
sandie

 

[kuntrygirl]

Mine free range all day and always return with no problems.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

8 out of 10 of mine are great. They have over a quarter acre, but lay in the coop-in the boxes. My other two return to the coop... but lay on the floor? Dunno why, but at least it is inside and consistant, if terribly inconvenient. I am sure these are the same ones who would lay in the bushes at our old house. My advice is look for places that you could hide a nest outside and MOW them (or prune them) so they remove the temptation.

 

[noodleroo]

Ours at the bay go back to the coop to lay, except for one little imp that likes the area where we repot plants! Everybody else lays in the nest boxes in the coop, and, they have 52 acres of choices! I'm so glad they prefer the coop (except one, grrrrrrrr....)

 

[BlackBart]

Most of mine do but some like the hay barn and the front porch

 

[kuntrygirl]

My girls are so nice and polite that they wait in line for the next available box. I guess I need more boxes. I only have 10 boxes for 70 hens.