Does anyone else Free Range?

[NSawyer]

The level of safety your chickens enjoy during free range has a lot to do with your location. I live across the street from an immense forest preserve, and so all the usual suspects (for Illinois) can be easily found. However, I've only had one unexplained disappearance and that was due to my negligence. My girls are out from the moment I drag myself outside until dusk when they put themselves to bed.

I did, however, have to move my ducks from their pen and run by the garage to the chicken coop yesterday. A raccoon decided the eaves were a great place to have two babies, and I'm not taking chances with a coon. I just put 6 new bags of feed in the garage too D:

 

[Bogtown Chick]

We are abutted to Chippewa National Forest--vacation area--lots of trees. Neighbors are here and there...but pretty woodsy around here. We have bear, fox, raccoons, weasel, mink, -- the usual suspects. I think the dog in the yard helps with these. But I also believe they get a feel for her patterns...her comings and goings. I'll admit she's in the house and outside...wherever we are usually. The power of her presence makes a huge difference in the yard...that is for sure.

We do have one predator, though, that is not afraid of our dog and it is making a comeback. The Timber wolf. Those guys will lure your domesticated dog and the pack will have it for lunch. There's a few stories in our community of Labradors scratching to get back in the house like crazy and then their owners spotting wolves slipping back into the woods. And one lady lost her poodle right out of her back yard--a wolf took it while she watched ...nothing she could do at the time.



This Photo taken just right before my driveway after I dropped the kids off at the bus stop. He wasn't at all afraid of me and my car. Unusually, I hadn't let the chickens out to free range yet. I kept them in the coop a bit longer that day and the dog was in the house for a bit....

 

[centrarchid]

In may parts of the country you do not have to be close to a large natural expanse to have abundant predators. In these parts the smaller prey, natural and vermin (exotic mice and rats) are more abundant in urban and suburban locations. It is no big deal to pass a coyote on sidewalk in the state capital or see bobcat kittens playing in somebodies backyard. Raccoons are more abundant in town than in the countryside in many areas as well.

 

[CindaLouWho]

I live in Southern California in a rural part of town; I let my 5 and 2 babies range all day and they put themselves up at night; and I lock them up. We have possums and a random coyote; but we have stray dogs. Fortunately I have two of my own large dogs so we haven't had any issues. I have 1/3 acre and all of my surrounding neighbors have livestock. Mostly chickens, goats and horses. Someone closeby has a cow also.

 

[earlyredrooster]

I've seen and read a lot on here about coups and runs, but very little about free ranging. Mine are all out during the day and they head to the coup at night.

Does anyone else do this?

I free range but feed away from the coop. I have found coyote and other preditors will take the "easy meal of feed" rather than go through the trouble of breaking into coop.

 

[herbsandspices]

New question: My girls have always had 24/7 access to free range, but we decided to re-seed the lawn this spring. We locked them in their spacious pen for 3 weeks so the seed had a chance to germinate and grow without being eaten. They stopped laying! Even after we freed them again we haven't gotten any eggs. We have a large fenced yard (suburban big city), and we've searched under every cozy Bush ten times. Ever hear of chickens being too annoyed with you to lay?

 

[Hooligans7]

New question: My girls have always had 24/7 access to free range, but we decided to re-seed the lawn this spring. We locked them in their spacious pen for 3 weeks so the seed had a chance to germinate and grow without being eaten. They stopped laying! Even after we freed them again we haven't gotten any eggs. We have a large fenced yard (suburban big city), and we've searched under every cozy Bush ten times. Ever hear of chickens being too annoyed with you to lay?

I've read that chickens really like a routine, and don't like any changes to their routine whatsoever. So your chickens aren't annoyed with you, but they're shook up enough to stop laying. They'll come around eventually, if you refrain from changing their routine once again.
The next time you sow grass, you might consider fencing off a portion of the yard for that purpose (no more than half). Just a simple chicken wire fence will suffice, and your chickens shouldn't mind a bit.

 

[Sydney Acres]

New question: My girls have always had 24/7 access to free range, but we decided to re-seed the lawn this spring. We locked them in their spacious pen for 3 weeks so the seed had a chance to germinate and grow without being eaten. They stopped laying! Even after we freed them again we haven't gotten any eggs. We have a large fenced yard (suburban big city), and we've searched under every cozy Bush ten times. Ever hear of chickens being too annoyed with you to lay?

Chickens frequently stop laying when they get stressed. When free range chickens are suddenly penned they can become very stressed and stop laying. They should recover after everything returns to normal.

 

[lilstarshine7]

I let mine free range, let them out in the morning and about 7 at night they are in there coop. We have lots of bushes surrounding our property where they like to hang out. No real major predator problems, other than a few stray cats, but when the rooster flaps his wings, they scatter...lol. They love getting all the bugs and such, and really lowers the feed bill. They prefer the bugs from free ranging to the chicken feed, I do not buy as much and that is great for the pocket book.

 

[sekeyslaks]

In the Spring and Summer I can't let my birds out to free-range because my family has a garden every year,but when Fall comes around I let them All the way out,no fences not even a boundary even!In Tennessee we rarely get snow so the chickens have grass year round,and if we do get snow I crack acorns for them and since my family plants a large turnip garden in the Fall they have free range of the greens!They are super happy when they are out,their colors are deeper, their eggs better!They have a sparkle in their eye,because of the routine they love!