Rural Gardening: Newbie hoping to raise hens in the city - several questions, 1 by sbarr

sbarr wrote:
We're having fun with it - she insisted on eating breakfast outside. So we had breakfast on the back patio with 2 chickens hiding under a rabbit hutch. They're about 16 weeks or so, so not ready to lay - maybe within a month or so.

Question - how important is it to get them in the habit of being put in the hutch each night? I won't be mowing the section of yard they're in in the short term so as not to scare them.

Next question - They're skittish right now, so would it be better to put their laying boxes inside the hutch or nearby where we can get at them. The hutch has a closed back area and 3 X 3 ft. (approx.) wire mesh area where I'm keeping extra water and some veggie scraps. I originally thought it would be good to put them in each night, so that we can "shoo them in the hutch" once they learn the routine.

So far, they're content with pecking underneath the hutch where it feels safer - I'm almost inclined to let them stay out at night, with the assumption that if I can't catch them, nobody else can. They're about 4-5 months, still fairly small, but I can't see them getting attacked by anything - we have a couple of neighborhood cats who wander occasionally (I may seem one of them in the yard once a month), but aside from that, a few bunnies and lots of squirrels, I can't envision many predators in the middle of Albany one a 4 lane city street.

Here's a fairly recent picture of the little Miss - she's truly my treasure - and hopefully a bit of "partner in crime"!