I have six young chickens that are around 14 weeks old. When I let them free range for the first time do I literally just open the door of their coop in the morning, let them out and hope they come back on their own. Or shall I let them out late in the afternoon so they (hopefully) take themselves to bed back in the coop after a few hours? I am a bit worried about letting them out the first few times as we have just under an acre of yard. Any suggestions please?
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Many thanks for your encouraging
comments. I guess I must be brave and just go for it!
I free range my birds (ducks, chickens, and turkeys) and the chickens always go back to the coop at night. Well, except this year I had a couple that did not go back, but only because they started laying eggs in a patch of weeds I had been ignoring. I did not find the eggs, so when they decided to go broody, they did not go back to the coop. Other than that, as long as the chickens have been in the coop for a few days and know it is home, they have always gone back.
I have six chickens that free range all day. For the first week or so I had to bring them back to the coop and actually put them on the roost before locking them in. They all got the hang of it pretty quickly. Now I don't even bother closing the coop at night. They just do their thing.
You want to be sure your birds are pretty safe from predators, though. My neighbor has had chickens for six years and hasn't lost one to predators so I knew we were in pretty good shape, at least from coyotes. My girls have lots of places to hide, lots of shade and lots of water sources in our yard. Hawks are still a concern but my girls are happy and I just can't keep them locked up. So I guess it's a calculated risk.
Mandy, great points. I agree that it's a calculated risk. My girls are so happy to roam and hide in pots and find cool soil and mud puddles that I have to hope that we've given them as many opportunities to hide as needed. I can't imagine locking them up.
I let my youngsters out for a few hours in the afternoon for the first time when I was going to be working in the yard. Of course, they are so funny to watch, I'm not sure how much work I got done. Then when the sun started going down, they started heading back to the coop. If they don't, find something to bribe them back in...tomatoes or dried mealworms are the most popular item in my flock.