penned or free??

moonshadow_dancer · **Posted:** Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:35 pm

I allow all my poultry to be free, I don't like pens, although I will pen my new peas when they arrive.

The problem is they keep changing laying spots for their eggs, for example:

If my turkey gal goes broody all my tribe lay there including the guinea fowls, but they hide well so not to be found.

I always know as the egg count goes down. Once my little silky hen went clucky and I moved her a wee bit, I found 27 eggs under her and not one silky egg. They are crafty little girls, they tend to use whoever is silly enough to sit still for 5 minutes.

Just curious if others have this happen.

Take Care
Deb

Is this normal or do I have super smart girls here that want chicks but don't want to miss out on the fun, so use another to incubate for them?

greenaus · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:50 am

I had to laugh as I visualised you finding 27 eggs under your Silkie. It was only yesterday that I was looking at my Australorp pullets wondering how big they will grow and how many eggs they could fit under them.

My layers are used to their pen, so when they wanted to lay they usually return to the nest. Except the newest layers. They found a nice spot on the dirt floor in the corner of the workshop behind a bunch of stuff. Before that, I'd found an egg in a plant pot (no plant, just dirt...and an egg).

TROOPY · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:50 am

I let mine out for only short time because of Foxes.

Tahir · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:35 am

when I used to let my girls out during the day in there large run behind the pens, the two australorp hens made a hidden nest in the orchards that hangs over the fence, and now they keep on using it whenever i let them out. And my light sussex hen mad a nest in the front garden in between a couple of small shrubs and laid her eggs in the nest everyday. I like letting the free range, but they like the next door neighbours gardens

pjh · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:21 am

my chooks free range through the day but most return to the pens and ther fav nest box to lay,cheers pam

silver duckwing · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:56 am

My ISA browns used to like to lay in the car, on my son's baby seat.

They free-ranged widely - next door ( I used to put a dozen eggs in their letterbox from time to time to apologise), out on the footpath to amuse passers-by, in the vegie patch... they would even leap suddenly through the diningroom window and scare the life out of us, looking for treats. If I could have put little nappies on them, they could have cleaned up after the kids!

I'm a fan of free range, but where I am I can only let them out for short periods, when I'm home, so I built a run with bird netting over the top and I give them plenty of greens from the garden.

County Lodge · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:49 pm

I free range all day and lock them up in their pens at night. But they don't mix and match. The sussex have the run of most of our ten acreas and the bantams have the vegie garden and take turns in half a day out freeranging for each pen. The adolesence chook pen get to free range with the bantams all day.

silver duckwing · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:06 pm

How are the bantams in the vegie garden? Do they damage/eat much?

moonshadow_dancer · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:32 pm

Hi everyone,

Green you would have really laughed till you cried if you had seen it, when she was off her nest feeding I counted all the eggs and neatly put them back in a nice flat ring. When poor sally got back on her eggs she looked like she was sitting on an egg doilie :lol:

Take Care
All
Deb

frasers_zoo · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:47 pm

hawks mean that I can't leave our birds out all day. I would love to be able to leave them out in the backyard but I would have to set up netting to protect them which would be a hazard for all the other wildlife.
They are let out in the afternoons when I get home and during the weekend when I can sit out there and watch them. We have 2 resident raptors that would quite happily carry off the bantams, especially the young ones.
cheers
Ange

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