What is usual free ranging behavior? Also some other questions

[PhantomSlayer]

Were just about ready for giving my sister in laws birds access to the new shed through a chicken door rather than their kids having to chase them down in the run and get them in the shed every night. However I do believe my sister in law may still allow them free range after doing so but for the past week I've had to go down with my mom a few times to herd them into the run. And theres things that have stood out and made me question things and want to learn about what we should expect when were free ranging our own flock.

1. Do hens rely on the rooster to guide them around areas? The past two times they seem to completely follow the rooster no matter what we do. So were stuck trying to get the jerk of a rooster to go into the run or else the majority of the hens won't follow. (He's not aggressive he just won't go into the run if he doesnt want to and I'm to scared to face off with him if hes running straight at me or by me trying to get a way).

2. I read that hens lay their eggs within 6 hours after sunrise usually. But with my nieces and nephew just letting them out of the shed at like 7am when they go to school to free range even with the shed open and the run open both having nesting boxes will a hen not return to the nesting box zones to lay? One laid an egg on their porch ontop of the stored straw today

3. Should you be paranoid about predators if you have enough escape places on a snowy day? Their coop is like 20ft from their house they have two trampolines near that, a porch that has like a foot of spaceing under they can go under, a nearly covered porch two doorways. One doesn't have a door but the other side is usually open as well. Plus across the yard is a garage with a open lean to and next to that is a bunch of tall trees, grass and sumac bushes and some big metal items like a fuel tank (its empty scrap). Theyve gone over there twice (climbing through sumac to herd them sucks!) Should we still be paranoid about them being out while no one is home down there? Our house is up the hill overlooking theirs so we can usually see them out more specifically during times where a snow storm is coming in?

4. Have you ever had two flocks mingle? (This question is something my mom asks) with two flocks being on two opposite sides of a 9.7 acre property if for some reason (I'm highly doubting they'll go that far) but if for some reason they do end up meeting will we have any worries about fighting or the flocks trying to stay mingled rather than keeping to two separate flocks?

5. What age should you start training chickens? I would like to avoid daily herding sessions like im dealing with my sister in laws chickens and ducks when my mom and I have our own flock so were planning on training them to associate food with a bell to return them to the run. I'm also considering a way to teach them to come to me. I just havn't figured out what noise to associate that with. I'm thinking a clicker.

6. Is it true easter eggers will only lay one color of eggs their whole life? My sister in law says shes been getting brown eggs and one white egg but were still not sure which hens are laying them she has 4 easter egger hens and 4 black sex link hens. One easter egger rooster. So far as far as I know shes only getting one egg a day and not even everyday so I'm guessing theres probably only 1-3 hens actually laying as of yet. They've only been laying since not even two weeks ago.

I would love to hear stories about things you've noticed free range flocks do often that seems almost habit. Also training tips or stories are welcome. Wanting to learn anything I can for when we have our own.


Oh and one last question. What do you think about leg bands for identification. I would really like to create a folder and be able to identify which chickens have had what issues, how often they go broody etc.

 

[Shadrach]

Were just about ready for giving my sister in laws birds access to the new shed through a chicken door rather than their kids having to chase them down in the run and get them in the shed every night. However I do believe my sister in law may still allow them free range after doing so but for the past week I've had to go down with my mom a few times to herd them into the run. And theres things that have stood out and made me question things and want to learn about what we should expect when were free ranging our own flock.

1. Do hens rely on the rooster to guide them around areas? The past two times they seem to completely follow the rooster no matter what we do. So were stuck trying to get the jerk of a rooster to go into the run or else the majority of the hens won't follow. (He's not aggressive he just won't go into the run if he doesnt want to and I'm to scared to face off with him if hes running straight at me or by me trying to get a way).

2. I read that hens lay their eggs within 6 hours after sunrise usually. But with my nieces and nephew just letting them out of the shed at like 7am when they go to school to free range even with the shed open and the run open both having nesting boxes will a hen not return to the nesting box zones to lay? One laid an egg on their porch ontop of the stored straw today

3. Should you be paranoid about predators if you have enough escape places on a snowy day? Their coop is like 20ft from their house they have two trampolines near that, a porch that has like a foot of spaceing under they can go under, a nearly covered porch two doorways. One doesn't have a door but the other side is usually open as well. Plus across the yard is a garage with a open lean to and next to that is a bunch of tall trees, grass and sumac bushes and some big metal items like a fuel tank (its empty scrap). Theyve gone over there twice (climbing through sumac to herd them sucks!) Should we still be paranoid about them being out while no one is home down there? Our house is up the hill overlooking theirs so we can usually see them out more specifically during times where a snow storm is coming in?

4. Have you ever had two flocks mingle? (This question is something my mom asks) with two flocks being on two opposite sides of a 9.7 acre property if for some reason (I'm highly doubting they'll go that far) but if for some reason they do end up meeting will we have any worries about fighting or the flocks trying to stay mingled rather than keeping to two separate flocks?

5. What age should you start training chickens? I would like to avoid daily herding sessions like im dealing with my sister in laws chickens and ducks when my mom and I have our own flock so were planning on training them to associate food with a bell to return them to the run. I'm also considering a way to teach them to come to me. I just havn't figured out what noise to associate that with. I'm thinking a clicker.

6. Is it true easter eggers will only lay one color of eggs their whole life? My sister in law says shes been getting brown eggs and one white egg but were still not sure which hens are laying them she has 4 easter egger hens and 4 black sex link hens. One easter egger rooster. So far as far as I know shes only getting one egg a day and not even everyday so I'm guessing theres probably only 1-3 hens actually laying as of yet. They've only been laying since not even two weeks ago.

I would love to hear stories about things you've noticed free range flocks do often that seems almost habit. Also training tips or stories are welcome. Wanting to learn anything I can for when we have our own.


Oh and one last question. What do you think about leg bands for identification. I would really like to create a folder and be able to identify which chickens have had what issues, how often they go broody etc.

1) Yes, the hens should follow their rooster and he will try to herd them to make this happen. This herding is often talked about as the rooster dance.
Getting them in the run is easiest done by feeding any treat food just before roost time. Feed the rooster first if you can. Otherwise place a bowl on the ground and back away. They'll work out there is interesting food in the run at bedtime and hopefully come in together.

2) Clicker training works but one needs to be consistant and patient. If one is carefull one can make an association between the clicker and a spoken word on your part. Eventually the clicker becomes unnecessary.

3) Some hens will lay in the nest boxes but others won't. Nest hunting is one of those "benefits" of free ranging. Very roughly, if you see a hen on her own or split away from the tribe with her rooster you can be pretty sure she/they are going to or coming from a nest site. Learn to watch out for this. It can save you hours of stress.
Hens can lay at any time of day.

4) No i've never had two tribes/flocks mix on a permenant basis but tribes will cohabit the same area in certain circumstances. If both tribes have a rooster one can expect a lot of posturing and sometimes fighting, rarely serious.

5) You can start training from any age. A lot of it comes undone a bit at first full feathering and later at the start of egg laying. If you plan to train and it involves handling the hens one is likely to upset their rooster. Once a hen starts to lay eggs physical contact with you or her rooster is a mating associated contact. That's a very broad view. What I've found more specifically is if one covers the hens back and restrain her wings at any point in the handling she thinks she's being mated and so does her rooster. One needs to be confident with the relationship one has with the tribes rooster when handling his hens.

6) Hopefully someone who knows the breeds can answer this. I don't.

You may find this helpfull.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/

 

[Shadrach]

Missed this.
Paranoia probably not. What one has to accept is some chickens are going to get killed by predators. It's helpfull if one knows what predators are common in your area.
A basic idea underlying free ranging is that the hens go broody and hatch replacements for any that are killed. This is the course of nature.
Natural cover such as thick large bushes, bamboo clumps, hedges are favourite.
It is almost impossible to provide cover that is secure from predators when free ranging.

 

[Yardmom]

Once chickens are homed to their sleeping area they will go there on their own at dusk sometimes that can be after sunset. Homing them means shutting them in for a week or so or chasing them in for a slightly longer time.
1. Roosters are the natural leaders so yes the hens will follow him. He may be the one who decides for all when to head in for the night. Occasionally some hens just do their own thing.
2. Once free range chickens get familiar with the nest areas they will return to the nests to lay. Getting them familiar with the nests means keeping nest eggs. They want to lay where others have. Also pick up any eggs laid elsewhere to show that was not a safe spot. Occasionally you may need to lock them in to reset where their nests are. Also young hens may not always look for a nest for the first few weeks.
3. Hiding places and activity around chickens can deter predators, but predators can become brave in times of hunger and sometimes they outsmart the prey. If you free range you should be prepared for a loss occasionally.
4. I have two free range flocks on the same property. Each flock has its own territory. I know where the lines are between them,but the chickens created them. I don't remember much fighting about how the lines were established, but now they never step across the lines I will mention here that I had a predator take the strongest rooster from one flock. A young cockeral from the other flock realized he was gone and switched flocks becoming the flock master in his new flock even over other roosters.
5. I have had a flock that I successfully trained to come in during the day with food as the incentive. Now I just wait for them to put themselves to bed. Ducks tend to go in later and be harder to train, but I have combined a food incentive with darkness and mine come off the pond each night.
6. Egg color does not really change over time, but the amount of bloom can causing a slightly different appearance. This is an outside cover that tends to lessen some the longer a chicken has been laying. Probably one hen laying the white egg as it sounds like the birds she has should lay brown, green or blue. Do any of the birds have any white in their ear lobe? Many white egg layers also have white ear lobes.
Great plan for the leg bands, but the couple times I tried they did not stay on.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

It is true that an Easter Egger will only lay one color egg her entire life. However, the shade can vary. For instance sometimes a hen will add more dye to her blue egg, making it appear more deeply blue than normal. Conversely, later in the laying season a blue egg from a specific hen may appear less tinted than earlier in the season. With green eggs, sometimes the amount of bloom added to the egg will cause it to look darker or lighter green than usual, and sometimes the bloom can even make other colors such as gray. But a blue-egg layer will always lay blue, and a green-egg layer green. Or brown and white eggs if the "Easter Egger" did not inherit the blue egg gene.

Re predators and hiding places, hiding places may help deter birds of prey, but will do nothing to prevent ground predator losses. Regarding free-ranging, depending on your predator load you may sooner or later eventually lose All your chickens, unless you have a LG dog, electric fence or some other predator deterrent to protect them. Even more so during the winter months as wild prey grows scarce. I live in a heavily wooded, rural area with a spring-fed creek (wildlife super-highway) at the back of my property. Without dogs to protect them, I wouldn't have any chickens left at all. Despite superior dog protection, a red-tail hawk and gray fox have still managed to take chickens here and there. My broody hens hatch waaaay more annually than die from all causes, but I really don't like losing even one.

Re leg bands, at first I used the coiled circular bands sold at tractor supply, but those were too small for some of the larger hens. Now I use zip ties. Whatever you use, make sure the band is not too tight when you put it on, and also check it regularly. If left unattended, a too-tight band could literally cut off blood circulation and cost a bird their foot.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Alot of info lol

1. Roosters are a pain lol But most of it makes sense.

2. I guess I'll be stuck hunting for eggs then lol I read so many articles that said most chickens lay within 6 hours after sunrise. I was hoping that would be right but hopefully the majority of them prefer the nesting boxes rather than me having to walk around the area looking for birds trying to hide their nests. It'll also suck if they do under the autumn olive bushes... Those have thorns...

3.
We have more prey than predators tbh. The biggest issue I think we will have is the eyes in the sky aka eagles, hawks and maybe an owl.

I don't get why their not just letting them free range till sundown when their more than likely to be willing to go in the run/coop. Maybe cause their not home during that time? So they think they'll lose more? Either way thats definately not happening with my mom and i's future flock. I would feel to bad with the ammount of property we have them being confined so long. But it's easier since were home nearly everyday.

4. @Yardmom That is sooo helpful and interesting! I was worried that we may end up stuck with trading chickens often.

5. I am excited to atleast get them trained to go into the run when I need them to. If I can get the majority of them to follow that before sunset I will be HAPPY! I have no issue trying to find a few stragglers but I don't want to be doing that in the dark lol

6. Base color not changing makes sense. Its cool how they'll vary shades tho. I really want to a blue egg in person.



As for leg bands yeah I saw alot of pictures about the bands growing into their legs. I would never leave them on that long without checking them. I'm thinking probably wont actually put them on until around the time they lay eggs. That way their grown a bit.