How Long Until Hens Know They’re Home?

[Mrs Chicken Keep]

I’ve had a small flock of four chickens for the past five years. We recently built a new and much larger chicken coop and run area with plans of expanding our flock. My neighbor also has chickens and is willing to give me a few. We both let our chickens free range, and while mine stay very close to their coop, my neighbor’s chickens wander much farther and sometimes come over to our property. My neighbor lives about 1/8 to 1/4 mile away just for some perspective.

I’m wondering how long it will take for the hens to acclimate to their new surroundings before I let them free range again. My thought was that if I let them out, they’ll just go back home (to my neighbor’s property) in the evening when it’s time to go to roost. I don’t love the idea of keeping them all cooped up in the coop and run, especially because I know how introducing new chickens into the flock can be stressful and they can fight.

Any advice or guidance would be very much appreciated. I learned so much by reading the posts on Back Yard Chickens!

Thanks so much!

 

[Evadig]

My hens have all been raised as chicks/lived at least an hour away before I adopted them, so I'm probably not qualified to give much advice.

I keep mine locked up for at least a week, then let them out a bit before bedtime. Every couple days, I extend the time they're allowed to be out until they're free ranging full time. This worked for most of my hens, but a couple want to wander down the street anyway. They don't free range anymore.

Hope this helps !

 

[Mrs Chicken Keep]

My hens have all been raised as chicks/lived at least an hour away before I adopted them, so I'm probably not qualified to give much advice.

I keep mine locked up for at least a week, then let them out a bit before bedtime. Every couple days, I extend the time they're allowed to be out until they're free ranging full time. This worked for most of my hens, but a couple want to wander down the street anyway. They don't free range anymore.

Hope this helps !

Thanks for your reply. I raised my four hens from chicks as well and they’ve always been very polite and close by in their free range activity.
I’m sure that someone has experience with this and I will get some good advice.

 

[dearmeghann]

We're in the same boat this week! We moved the girls to their new coop (100-ish feet away.) We've kept them inside the coop/run and will probably do that for several days this week.

I keep mine locked up for at least a week, then let them out a bit before bedtime. Every couple days, I extend the time they're allowed to be out until they're free ranging full time.

This reminded me of when we first started letting them out to free-range. We'll try this later on this week.

Our girls are so smart, but our new layout is so different!

 

[Mrs Chicken Keep]

We're in the same boat this week! We moved the girls to their new coop (100-ish feet away.) We've kept them inside the coop/run and will probably do that for several days this week.

This reminded me of when we first started letting them out to free-range. We'll try this later on this week.

Our girls are so smart, but our new layout is so different!

Thanks so much - that’s kind of what I was thinking.