New to chickens and looking forward to good information!

[Freedomfan]

I am new to the site and new to chickens. We have 10 laying hens from two different friends. We have had them about 10 days. My son built a coop and fenced in run. We maybe get 3-4 eggs a day. I have read that it takes a few weeks to acclimate to new surroundings. Also, what is the best way to introduce free ranging and will they come back??

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. The Best of Luck with your Flock! And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska.

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC.
They will come back as long as they have a place to roost and food to eat. Personally, I only let mine out of the chicken yard when I'm outside. We have a lot of predators.

 

[Burnt Brass Homestead]

Hi @Freedomfan

They will definitely come back to their home. We have a lot of predators in the area, so I only allowed them to free range when I was outside with them.

But they have a nice size pen.

Welcome!

 

[alinas2010]

Welcome! You will find information here on just about anything, enjoy! Typically they won’t stray too far from home at first. In the event you can’t get them to return, you can always offer a few fun treats, they’ll usually come running back for that!

 

[Tookie]

Welcome to BYC! Good luck!

 

[LTAY1946]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad to have you in this community.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC! We're very happy to have you with us!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!!

We live next to a forest and free range our silkies but have two dogs that keep the varments back from our place.

I would suggest watching Amazon or elsewhere for sales on solar motion lights. They scare off the varments at night and it helps make them scared to come near our place during the day.

They always stick around pretty close and go to their coop(s) at around dusk.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

You can let them out about an hour before roost time. They won't venture far. They've already been homed to their new coop.
As mentioned, they will not have any protection outside of the run.
I let my birds out of their run into a 1/3 acre pen constructed from electrified poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger. The only predators I'm really concerned with are hawks. They fly over daily but in the 6 years I've had my birds, I've only had one loss due to a hawk. My flock has lots of cover from hawks and always at least one rooster on the look out to give an alarm when he sees and aerial threat.