Make me feel better about penning my former free-rangers :(

[NatJ]

thanks for the idea of putting a compost pile in the run. We've been wanting to start one but haven't gotten around to sitting down and figuring out where to start.

@gtaus has a lot of good posts about composting in a chicken run.

Here's one of his threads:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/harvesting-my-chicken-run-compost-black-gold.1529564/

Composting in the run can be problematic, they'll have fun but you may not get any compost....and it can draw preds if you're composting kitchen scraps.

It works fine for some people.

As far as attracting predators, I don't think kitchen scraps make much difference, if the chickens eat all the best kitchen scraps (things like meat) in a timely fashion. Things like carrot peels and cabbage leaves may get eaten or not, but won't be especially attractive to predators either.

 

[gtaus]

Today is their first day not free-ranging and I would love some encouragement that I'm not ruining their lives.

I don't know why people are worried about not letting their chickens free range. I live on a lake, and we have hawks and Bald Eagles overhead all the time. If I let my chickens free range, it would be free chicken lunch for the predators and I would be a former owner of a backyard flock in no time.

I built a nice chicken run, with bird netting on top to prevent aerial attacks, and my chickens are doing just fine. Over time, I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system, essentially bringing the free range to them in terms of grass clippings, leaves, garden weeds, etc... My chickens appear to be happy. They are certainly safe.

Is there anything I can do to encourage more bugs in the run??

I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. The compost is full of worms and bugs. My chickens spend all day outside scratching and pecking in the compost litter finding worms and bugs to eat. Not only do they enjoy that activity, but my commercial feed cost goes down by half in the summertime when the chickens are outside on the compost in the run.

Thanks for all the ideas. Combined with the compost-pile-in-run idea above, doing some of these things will make me feel a lot better about having them in there.

I started off with a nice green grass chicken run. Then the chickens ate all the grass down to the dirt. I added a compost bin inside the chicken run, which was a big success. Over time, I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. That has worked out best for me and my chickens.

Composting in the run can be problematic, they'll have fun but you may not get any compost....and it can draw preds if you're composting kitchen scraps.

I have not had any problems with composting in the chicken run. But, as I have said, over time I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. It never smells, and I harvest hundreds of dollars worth of black gold compost for my garden every spring, summer, and fall. I tell people I have composting chickens and get eggs as a bonus.

I toss my kitchen scraps and leftovers into the chicken run in the morning when I let out my chickens. The kitchen scraps are usually gone within a few minutes, so there is nothing left to attract predators.

What the chickens don't eat, which is very little, just gets mixed into the compost litter to become bug and worm food. For example, I'll toss out watermelon rinds to the chickens. They will eat most of the flesh of the watermelon, but I will find a thin strip of the rind left at the end of the day. Same with bananas, they will eat the white part of the banana peel but leave the thin skin to get composted in the litter.

If I go out fishing and have fish guts from cleaning, I will also toss them into the chicken run. The chickens will peck away at the fish guts throughout the day. If there are any fish remains left at the end of the day, I will typically bury it into the compost litter in the run. I have never had any predator problems with burying fish in my compost. If I did, I would just remove the fish remains at the end of the day. Burying the fish remains in the compost just adds more good stuff for composting and the bugs and worms love to eat that kind of stuff. In any case, the fish remains automagically vanish in a few days inside the compost.

Chickens are omnivores, and I don't hesitate to toss leftover bits and pieces of meat into the chicken run. It all gets eaten in no time at all and I have never seen any meat left at the end of the day when I put my chickens into the coop for the night.

If you have an active composting system in the chicken run, then you really don't need any other distractions for the chickens. My chickens are active all day scratching and pecking in the compost litter, creating compost for the garden in the process. It's a great system, my chickens appear to be happy, and I get lots of compost and eggs.

 

[fluffycrow]

Been free ranging for almost as long as I've had chickens, so free ranging for 10 years. No matter how much you try, you are going to lose some birds, and most of the time the sight won't be pretty. Don't ever feel bad for keeping your chickens penned

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus has a lot of good posts about composting in a chicken run.

Here's one of his threads:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/harvesting-my-chicken-run-compost-black-gold.1529564/

Thanks for the shout out. I hope that thread still provides some good info to people. For me, it was a great success converting my chicken run into a chicken run composting system.

 

[Pghelp]

My hens used to free range in our large backyard which is fenced. After neighborhood cat attacks plus hunting grounds for raccoons, we decided to build a large enclosed run with two smaller coops, one at each end. One is their bedroom with space for all, the other is a smaller coop which works well when I need to isolate one who’s recovering or if I have a broody mama with babies that need to be seen but not touched by the flock. I do let them out to roam the yard when I’m out there working and they love that. But it’s just not safe to leave them out there in the day or the night. One idea, I’ve taught mine to come back to me in the run when I shake the treat jar, and let me tell you they know the difference between the sound of shaken sunflower seeds or grub works! They come running. Also our neighborhood crows do a nice job of warning them when the hawks are doing a flyover. That will send them running back to the safety of run and coop too!

 

[Pghelp]

Oh, another bonus of the enclosed run, is I no longer have the awful job of needing to clip a wing to keep them from flying away. They know where home and safety are!

 

[Vata Raven]

We have movable fence so we can rotate a small free range area on the back of our 1.12 acres.

Which moveable fence do you use?

 

[Red Roof Farm]

Last year we moved out of city limits onto 2 acres and got 8 hens in December with quaint dreams of the chickens free ranging around the property while we were out working "alongside them." The coop that I built was from a design I found online and only had a small-ish (8' x 4') run.

After a couple months of free-ranging it became a headache being worried all the time about where the hens were. Moving from the suburbs, 2 acres felt gigantic. I thought chickens would be too "chicken" to venture far from their coop/home but we have neighbors on 3 sides and the hens kept wandering off into their yards and getting chased by their dogs. I also got really worried they were going to go into my one neighbor's garage while he had it open and poop everywhere (like they did in our garage - which was making me have to remember to keep the garage closed at all times, which also meant I wouldn't be able to work comfortably in the garage in the summer when it will get hot). I found myself constantly glancing out the windows to try to account for the chickens and getting worried (about them having gotten snatched or just wandering too far into a neighbor's property) if I couldn't spot all of them. We also had to wall off the deck so they couldn't get up on it and poop everywhere, and I have had to spray off the front porch every day or two. We didn't want them free-ranging when we were all gone from the house, so going anywhere with the family required a new chore of rounding up the chickens back into the run, which I felt bad about on days when we were gone all day bc the run seemed small for them.

Long story short, just yesterday I finished building a new run that attaches to the old run. I felt so bad about penning them up and hopefully made it large enough (16' x 20') that it will be comfortable. So now they have the old 8' x 4' run and the new 20' x 16' run as well as the space directly under the coop which is screened in (5' x 6'). Today is their first day not free-ranging and I would love some encouragement that I'm not ruining their lives.Hopefully in the future we can get a fence around our backyard and let them free range again "part time." Is there anything I can do to encourage more bugs in the run??

Have you clipped their wings? Or do have a predator net on the run? They will flush out of the run if startled with no net and full wings.

 

[Debby R]

Last year we moved out of city limits onto 2 acres and got 8 hens in December with quaint dreams of the chickens free ranging around the property while we were out working "alongside them." The coop that I built was from a design I found online and only had a small-ish (8' x 4') run.

After a couple months of free-ranging it became a headache being worried all the time about where the hens were. Moving from the suburbs, 2 acres felt gigantic. I thought chickens would be too "chicken" to venture far from their coop/home but we have neighbors on 3 sides and the hens kept wandering off into their yards and getting chased by their dogs. I also got really worried they were going to go into my one neighbor's garage while he had it open and poop everywhere (like they did in our garage - which was making me have to remember to keep the garage closed at all times, which also meant I wouldn't be able to work comfortably in the garage in the summer when it will get hot). I found myself constantly glancing out the windows to try to account for the chickens and getting worried (about them having gotten snatched or just wandering too far into a neighbor's property) if I couldn't spot all of them. We also had to wall off the deck so they couldn't get up on it and poop everywhere, and I have had to spray off the front porch every day or two. We didn't want them free-ranging when we were all gone from the house, so going anywhere with the family required a new chore of rounding up the chickens back into the run, which I felt bad about on days when we were gone all day bc the run seemed small for them.

Long story short, just yesterday I finished building a new run that attaches to the old run. I felt so bad about penning them up and hopefully made it large enough (16' x 20') that it will be comfortable. So now they have the old 8' x 4' run and the new 20' x 16' run as well as the space directly under the coop which is screened in (5' x 6'). Today is their first day not free-ranging and I would love some encouragement that I'm not ruining their lives.Hopefully in the future we can get a fence around our backyard and let them free range again "part time." Is there anything I can do to encourage more bugs in the run??

I had to bring mine back in a few years ago due to predators. My run is 8x12’ for 5 hens but I definitely know the guilt. I go out twice a day and collect a bucket of their favorite greens. They love it plus it gives them something to do. You did the right thing. Try not to feel badly; you’re saving their lives!

 

[gandalf_of_chickens]

Have you clipped their wings? Or do have a predator net on the run? They will flush out of the run if startled with no net and full wings.

The sides have hardware cloth and chicken wire. The top is covered by bird netting