Will they come back to the coop?

[mucduc]

Hey everyone

Im close to within a month of my pullets laying their first eggs. I have 25 pullets 1 rooster and 7 acres which they only really run around on 2-3 of the acres. They roam freely and do what they want. But they always do everything together. If the rooster runs to the blueberry bushes, then they all run to the bushes. If the rooster wants to go under the shed or onto the porch then they all want to. They pretty much stay together.

My question is will 1 of the chickens break away from the group to go back to the coop to lay an egg? Or will they just lay it in one of their "cool down" areas that they hang out at?

They have a big coop 10 sq feet per bird with food and water always there. Plenty of roost space and ventilation. And they all come back each night. Just unsure if they will come bavk during the day to lay.

Maybe i need to just keep them cooped until they start laying and using the boxes?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I wish there was a definitive answer to this but there is not. Chickens are living animals and will do what they do. Yours is further complicated because you don’t have any older hens laying in the coop. My older girls teach the pullets where to lay. That makes my life a lot easier. They do leave the flock and go back to the coop to lay.

When they first start to lay it’s possible they will drop their first few eggs about anywhere, from the roosts, in the coop floor, the run, or out free ranging. Most get it right to start with, especially if there are older girls in the flock to teach them, but with an all pullet flock especially don’t be too surprised to find a few eggs scattered about. That’s not a disaster, just try to keep them picked up. They like to lay where they see others laying.

Most pullets will search for a good place to lay about a week before they start to lay. They will hop in the nests and scratch around, plus probably check other places out. Sometimes the rooster will help them look. So make sure your nests are open and ready before they start to lay. They also like to lay where other hens are laying. Having fake eggs like golf balls, wooden or ceramic eggs, or even plastic Easter eggs in the nests help guide them, but it doesn’t always work.

If you find the bedding or fake egg scratched out of the nest, that tells you that your lip is too low on the nest. It needs to be high enough that they don’t scratch everything out. That’s another reason to have the nests open before they start to lay. You may need to fix your nests.

It’s also possible some will want to sleep in your nests instead of on the roosts. There can be different reasons for this. This normally doesn’t happen but if it does I want to know so I can fix the problem before I start getting poopy eggs. There are lots of reasons to have the nests open and a fake egg in them before they start to lay.

Wherever a pullet lays her first controlled egg is where she will want to lay her next egg. That becomes her nest. I’ve had pullets start to lay at 16 weeks. I’ve had several groups of pullets where I did not get my first egg for a lot longer, though this time of year somewhere around 20 to 22 weeks for the first egg north of the equator is kind of normal. Each is an individual, you just don’t know when that first egg will come. If your coop or coop and run is big enough you could lock them in there and not let them free range until you get one or two laying in the nests. That could help you out a lot. But even with them totally free ranging the odds are fairly good they will lay in the nests in your coop. Living animals don’t come with guarantees on behavior though.

Good luck!

 

[mucduc]

Thanks for the info. They don't have access to the boxes yet. Separated by wire. I forgot all about the fake egg thing. Do they usually get on a routine? Like early in the morning or day? Then I can just not open the cop til a little later in the morning.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Again, it depends on the individual chicken. It takes about 25 hours for the egg to make its way through the hen’s internal egg making factory. The egg typically starts its journey about 20 minutes after the last egg is laid, but there are other things that effect that, such as light. So it is “normal” for a hen to lay its egg a little bit later every day until it gets too late and it skips a day. But “about 25 hours” does not mean exactly 25 hours for each and every hen. Some are faster, some are slower. I had a hen that lay an egg each day for over a week and that egg was always laid before 9:00 am. She was the only green egg layer I had so her egg was really distinct. No mistaking which egg was hers.

Not every hen lays every day. Some often skip a day. Since light can be a trigger for when the egg yolk is released to start its journey, these hens often lay in the morning. You will see more hens laying in the morning than in the afternoon, but I’ve had hens on the nest laying when the others were going to the roosts.

Keeping them penned up in the mornings can improve your odds (sounds like a good idea) but again living animals don’t come with guarantees.

 

[aart]

At first there's not a real good 'schedule', but once they get into the swing of things it's often pretty predictable.
Most my birds usually lay between 10am and 2pm.
So yes, confining to coop/run until afternoon can help.

Do you have a large run too?
Good thing to have even when you free range in case of predation issues, where they might be safer confined in a run for a few weeks.


How old and what breed are they?
You might want to open the nests and put some fake eggs in there soon, just to test things out.
Make sure they don't roost in the nests,
make sure your nest fronts are high enough to keep bedding and eggs inside when 'keep house',
and give them the chance to check things out.

 

[mucduc]

They are almost 5 months. Barred rocks, white rocks, RIR, Americauna, black sex links. Their combs and waddles are now getting big and turning red on most of them. I have thought about making a run for the mat first but when I saw how well they go back to the coop I never thought of it again.