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New Member
 
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Last Login: 3/2/2010 4:20:42 AM
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| i have had a flock (12 hens and two roosters) however i kept them caged up i let them out a few times and they always went back in the coop before sundown ive since moved and had gotten rid of those birds and am planning to get more i was wandering if i just built them a coop to stay in at night and let them out in the day time do they lay their eggs all over the place or do they go back to their nests to do that
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Average Member
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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 11:24:22 AM
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| Both. Each individual hen will find a place to lay the single egg per day/ two days. She will keep using that place until she feels disturbed (you collecting eggs). At that time she may find somewhere else. We had some luck by keeping them in the coup until they laid (they always seemed to do this earlyish morning) and when we collected we always left some eggs or left porcelene (SP) fake ones. This helped.
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Senior Member
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| I agree with the statement above
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Senior Member
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| With our set up we have a 6' fence in yard mainly to keep the cattle out. The chickens do go over the fence to forage, but come back for water and feed and to lay eggs in the coop. We had two Barred Plymouth Rocks that would lay in the lumber shed but they were taken off the nest by a fox or the neighbors dog that lives a mile through the woods. But since we lost the ones that laid out of the coop the new ones imprinted on the older ones and lay in the coop. When I have treats they I give it in the chicken yard.
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New Member
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Last Login: 3/1/2010 4:26:52 PM
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| Usaly all of mine lay in the coop. there for a while the kids would be on a easter egg hunt all over the 2 barns shed and sum wood piles. but now its all been in one barn where there coop is. they roost in there except for the 3 younger ones i got left from the last group i bought. I feed them once in the morning and let them have the run of the farm and so far they all are comeing back there. I tryed plastic eggs in one of the coops but they all insist on going in the same 2 nest that all of them use.
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 12/24/2009 7:56:29 PM
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I kept my chickens in their coop and small run until they got completely "used" to laying in the nest boxes. I since have let them out into my acre goat paddock (with a "tight" welded wire fence.. chicken proof)... and so far (crossed fingers) they haven't layed anywhere except the hen house. I am going on three months of "free ranging".. now. I would suggest you keep the hens "locked up" for awhile (get them used to the boxes) and then let them out.
Swampy Acres Farm
Hampstead, NH
www.swampyacresfarm.com
“Southern New Hampshire’s most un-profitable farm!”
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 10/27/2009 4:36:16 PM
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| I have a flock of 50+ birds that are pastured on a hillside...and another 50 chicks that will take the hillside when this 50 is put in the freezer or sold. They never come in
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 11/9/2009 10:49:39 AM
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| I have had chickens for over 20 years with little problems. I start them in the chicken house under heat lamps. When they are fully grown, or big enough to get out of the chicken door, they go out into a large fenced in area. Once in a while one or two will find the grass is greener on the other side. They will fly over the fence. If I see which ones are escaping, I go into the chicken house at night and clip their wing feathers. That keeps them in the chicken yard. The big problem I have had over the years are predatory birds. I have seen more than one bird carried skyward in the tallons of another. I lost nearly half my flock this summer while a contractor was working on our barn, making is stronger. He took the walls off the barn and half my birds dissappeared. There went our winter supply of chicken. I am sure that coyotes and fox came in as well to dine on my poor vulnerable chickens. The older birds are totally free range. They roost in the barn rafters and hunt and peck around the horse manure outside. They sure do help to keep the flies down. I was cleaning out a stall and found a nest of five baby shrews. I showed one to an old chicken. She ran in and took it and ran out and told all of her friends. Pretty soon, the baby shrews were all gone.
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New Member
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| I agree with most of the comments. If you leave them in the coop until they are use to laying eggs in the nest box, they will return there unless bothered too much.
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