Keeping Chickens Free Range

Cass87 said:

I'm in Ontario Canada so I most definitely get winter, lol. I plan on moving them into a very large garage/workshop/outbuilding I have during that time (was originally a horse stable, you can see it in the background). The small coop was a compromise with the wife... she wanted something "small and nice looking" or it wasn't going to work. A week in, she's already saying she wouldn't mind something a bit bigger. I only plan on keeping 5-6 hens when it's all said and done so I won't need anything huge anyways. Really just looking for tips to keep my girls close and get them to come home.

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Welcome to BYC.

If you keep the chickens locked in a run for a short while (2-3 weeks) and you feed them in the area you want them to free range they will pretty much stay there. At least mine do. Sure, a few will follow me to another shed or the granary, but only because they think of me as the Ice Cream truck for chickens.

It will depend somewhat on where you keep them and what the lay of the land is. How much land do they have to roam?

90% of my birds stay within a 100 ft of the coop. The other 10% do not go out of my yard but will roam 200 ft or so. Some prefer to forage and hunt for bugs to what the welfare chickens eat. The welfare chickens stay either under the deck or close to the feeders.

If you occasionally give them kitchen scraps or treats in one place, I am betting they will stay fairly close to that area. No chicken wants to miss out on a kitchen scrap.

I have a chicken tractor and a run that fits up against it. I also built a permanent yard and attatched the run and the tractor. The other day I moved the run and tractor to a new place because where they were was worn down. I decided to let my two chickens out just before dusk and I sat out with them in case something tried to get them. They came out of the tractor, made a small circle around a small area and then headed straight for the permanent yard and stayed pecking around for an hour. I thought they would want to roam around after being penned up every since I got them. As it began to darken and my solar lights started coming on it was like a signal to them. They headed straight to the tractor with no coaxing from me at all. I had a cut canteloupe in a bowl in case I had to bribe them to go back in. So now I think I will do this daily. It was nice to sit out and feel the coolness come after a hot sunny day and I was entertained by the loud noise of the bugs. It reminded me of when I was little and would sit on the porch with my daddy. One evening he taught me how to make the dry flies go silent for awhile. He told me to just go touch the tree trunk. It worked!! They got quiet for a few minutes and then started back up. The sound of the dry flies and the lightning bugs bring back sweet memories of my childhood and the people I loved who have gone on. Thank you to my chickens for helping me find that enjoyment again. They don't have names. I am waiting until my grandchildren in San Francisco come and let them name them. A man keeps two cows in our pasture and my little grandson named them swiggly and cheesey. I would prefer daisy and bessy.

I've been free ranging my cockerels and giving them a little fermented feed on the side along with a few scraps/leftovers. When I butchered a couple today I was surprised at how little smell they had. I would have thought it was the F.F. but a few weeks ago I helped someone with 5 of their cockerels (also fed F.F.) but the smell was very potent.

Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon.

Hello!
I'm only 10 days into chickens -previous owner of our new home couldn't take them so we agreed to keep them. We have 2 hens, I'm not sure of age or breed.
About 3 weeks before we moved in another hen was lost to a fox so previous owner had them locked up 24/7. Once we got here I've let them out daily. After 5 days I found raccoon skat in the yard. So, I e improved the locks on the coop and run.

I leave layer feed in the coop 24/7 but they don't seem to eat much of it except before I let them out for the day. They forage for most of the day except when they go to lay eggs. Only one is currently laying.

We have an acre and the hens have been on every inch in the last 10 days! They have also wandered to neighbor's yard but the neighbors don't mind.

Right now we are having new grass planted on about 1/3 of our property that was dug up for a new septic system. I've got my ladies in their run to keep them from the grass seed. I treated them to grapes, oats, peppers, meal worms and bread this morning as my way of apologizing for locking them.back up.

I am enjoying this thread and learning from the experiences of so many. Any other tips for keeping free range hens happy when the have to temporarily be locked up? [/IMG]

Hey guys, as you know we have been free ranging for about a month now. It all has gone very well. Our chickens have outgrown their temp housing. All of them have started roosting in a tree ouside our bedroom window lol. We only have our barn conversion half way done but decided to start putting them in there last night so I don't have to keep climbing trees lol. Any good tips on etching them to roost their by themselves. Also we added new nesting boxes but they are still going to the old small coop. I want to get them reliant on the new place so my silkies can have the smaller coop. Will putting them in the new barn every night teach them to roost there at night? Should I lock them in for the morning until they lay? Thanks ya'll...

MamaCianc said:

Hello!
I'm only 10 days into chickens -previous owner of our new home couldn't take them so we agreed to keep them. We have 2 hens, I'm not sure of age or breed.
About 3 weeks before we moved in another hen was lost to a fox so previous owner had them locked up 24/7. Once we got here I've let them out daily. After 5 days I found raccoon skat in the yard. So, I e improved the locks on the coop and run.

I leave layer feed in the coop 24/7 but they don't seem to eat much of it except before I let them out for the day. They forage for most of the day except when they go to lay eggs. Only one is currently laying.

We have an acre and the hens have been on every inch in the last 10 days! They have also wandered to neighbor's yard but the neighbors don't mind.

Right now we are having new grass planted on about 1/3 of our property that was dug up for a new septic system. I've got my ladies in their run to keep them from the grass seed. I treated them to grapes, oats, peppers, meal worms and bread this morning as my way of apologizing for locking them.back up.

I am enjoying this thread and learning from the experiences of so many. Any other tips for keeping free range hens happy when the have to temporarily be locked up?

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Grats on new chickens and welcome to BYC.

jenniferlamar70 said:

Hey guys, as you know we have been free ranging for about a month now. It all has gone very well. Our chickens have outgrown their temp housing. All of them have started roosting in a tree ouside our bedroom window lol. We only have our barn conversion half way done but decided to start putting them in there last night so I don't have to keep climbing trees lol. Any good tips on etching them to roost their by themselves. Also we added new nesting boxes but they are still going to the old small coop. I want to get them reliant on the new place so my silkies can have the smaller coop. Will putting them in the new barn every night teach them to roost there at night? Should I lock them in for the morning until they lay? Thanks ya'll...

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I think you have 2 separate issues - roosting and laying.
The easiest solution to the roosting would be coxing them in with feed or treats every night and then locking them in until they get used to that area as home. The hard way is to pull them off their chosen roosts every night and put them where you want them. After a week or so they should get the idea. If you don't want an egg hunt every day, you will need to confine them for a while until they get used to the nesting boxes and seek them out when needed. Confining them for a week or so should take care of both issues.

Agreed. The only issue that may alter the above plan is if it's too hot to keep them confined to the coop for the morning. You may have to keep them in until noon or even later to catch those eggs in the nest. Have you baited the nest boxes with fake eggs? limit their feed until closer to roost time, and they will mow you over chasing you to the coop to get their feed.

mossyroo said:

I think you have 2 separate issues - roosting and laying.
The easiest solution to the roosting would be coxing them in with feed or treats every night and then locking them in until they get used to that area as home. The hard way is to pull them off their chosen roosts every night and put them where you want them. After a week or so they should get the idea. If you don't want an egg hunt every day, you will need to confine them for a while until they get used to the nesting boxes and seek them out when needed. Confining them for a week or so should take care of both issues.

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lazy gardener said:

Agreed.  The only issue that may alter the above plan is if it's too hot to keep them confined to the coop for the morning.  You may have to keep them in until noon or even later to catch those eggs in the nest.  Have you baited the nest boxes with fake eggs?  limit their feed until closer to roost time, and they will mow you over chasing you to the coop to get their feed.  

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Ok thanks. It has been a little warm but it's nice and cool where the barn is. It has good windows we can crack to if we need too. I think I will keep them locked in longer to see if I can get them to lay in their new nesting boxes. We have hawks really bad to and the area where the barn is much safer for them. Thanks for the help guys.

I've been taken my chickens out of there area once in a while, but it makes me nerves cause they get nerves cause there out of there pen, so I think they will no go back in. but so far as long as I have treats in my hand they follow me back. not all the girls follow me out just the younger ones. I want then to be able to free range, but then it makes me nerves because I feel being out in the open is a bad thing. so I only do it for a little while then bring them back in. I am not ready to let them free range on their own, but I'm trying.