Welcome from Turlock CA. Glad to see your post and questions. I am thinking bout the freerange idea myself and cant wait to see the answers that you recieve.
Thanks Everyone. Nice to meet all of you. I have been free ranging them, but trying to keep an eye. I have chased off a few hawks with a stick and blew of a few bottle rockets. My chickens though are way happier being free. Their feather's and combs even look brighter.
On the up side there is a ton of cover for them here to hide under. Hopefully that will give them an edge.