Free ranging pros and cons?

I am fairly new to chickens though I've been lurking here and learning a lot over the past month. I think I'm ready to take the plunge and get some chickens now. I have a fairly large area available and would like to free range my future flock. What are the pros and cons of free ranging? What are your experiences?

Pros

-Happier chickens
-Generally healthier chickens
-More room=exercise and ability to have more chickens
-They will eat less food

Cons

-Easy targets for predators
-Generally more prone to diseases and parasites
-Can get hurt and killed more easily.

My chickens get to free range from morning until they go to their coop in the evenings. I have some really happy chickens! Now, they are like kids, they get into everything! I first started free ranging them a couple of strict supervised hours per day and worked them up to all day unsupervised. I do keep them off my deck.
They definitely don't eat as much food. They eat frogs, lizards, crickets and pretty much anything scrap from my kitchen.
Be prepared for anything though. You will lose chickens to different things and it will break your heart. Make sure they have a very safe coop for night.

I would also highly suggest having a rooster for their protection. He will do his very best to take care if his girls.

Joybelles said:

I am fairly new to chickens though I've been lurking here and learning a lot over the past month. I think I'm ready to take the plunge and get some chickens now. I have a fairly large area available and would like to free range my future flock. What are the pros and cons of free ranging? What are your experiences? 

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Also consider the plant community available. Some plants have considerable nutritional value while others provide cover. Cover can be from wind, sun or predators. Ideally you will have multiple cover patches. Perimeter fencing is also very helpful in keeping dogs not friendly to chickens off your flock. Having a couple chicken friendly dogs on your side of fence can help keep wildlife from going after your birds. Roosters help with some hawks. Stay with standard sized chickens with reputation for doing well in a free-range setting. Avoid small (bantam) and fluffy (polish, silkies) breeds. Get one game rooster and no other roosters if purebred offspring not desired.

Predators are a real problem, everything likes chickens. My roosters do help with day time predators.

A large area is a little vague, but any vegetation will be mostly gone with time. They do like to scratch, and will demolish a garden in a couple of minutes. May be hard on ornamental plantings too.

Mine get out most days, but I would strongly recommend a run/coup that is big enough that they can stay in lock up if needed. I generally don't let mine out if it is real windy, or if I am going to be gone till very late or a couple of days. The run/coup needs to be secure and safe.

But I do like them out and about being chickens, but I have lost several too.

Mrs K

If you have a lot of space, consider just making the chickens a big run. Keep it inclosed and with a roof to prevent predators from entering. (Just an idea.)

I can't think of any real pros to free ranging other than the romantic aspect of 'happy' / free animals.....and the pragmatic aspect of lower feed costs.

The cons far outweigh the pros for me, I live on a busy 55mph road and have 15 acres of woods that are home to many predators, so mine are confined to a decent sized coop and run that is hawk proof and pretty good against other predators. I live where we get feet of snow for months, so built coop of a size to accommodate weather related confinement. They are provided with vegetation in grazing frames and kitchen and garden scraps, animal protein with homegrown mealworms and kitchen scraps. Egg sales cover the cost of purchased feeds.

Cons:
Poop everywhere, often where you want to walk near the house.
Dead birds in a busy road and due to predation of numerous kinds....dead birds don't lay eggs.
Destruction of food and/or ornamental gardens, I'd rather fence them in than have to fence them out of where I don't want them destroying things.
Egg hunting, can't sell eggs I can't find, free rangers often choose to lay elsewhere than in the coop.

Just my opinion.

I manage food and cover resources to direct ranging away from house and roadways. Dogs keep varmints out. I even use one small game rooster flock to keep other (dominqiue flocks) away from house.


My birds do not like laying in short grass that is exposed so that can be used to direct egg production to more harvest-able locations. Problem is that negatively impacts forage quality. Balance still being sought there.

Most folks here are not actually selling eggs even when that was an initial goal. The free-range chickens can provide a badly needed pastime with all sorts of emotional benefits.

Thank you, everyone! It would seem that predators losses is the biggest concern when free ranging? What do you all do to protect your flocks?

centrarchid, can you tell me a bit more about the dogs protecting chickens? I thought dogs would eat the chickens, not protect them?