My first post!.....and I need some advice

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MrPruitt

MrPruitt

Hatching
10 Years
Jun 3, 2009
2
0
7
Hello! I am new to BYC and excited to have found it and get some info! So my fiancee and I just bought a house on the very edge of town on a 1 acre plot with a couple neighbors and a street in front of the house that does get somewhat busy in the morning and afternoon. Now my question is should free range even cross my mind? Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
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and im not sure. My neighbors live by roads that arent busy but the chickens only walk along the side of or cross the street. If you have an acre I would think they would be fine... oh and then on not a highway but a busy road some person had free rangers and they were in a small yard not on the road.
 
I can't say anything from personal experience, so you might have to rely on those more experienced than me, but...

There are some people that live just a couple streets over from us that have chickens and their house is pretty close to a busy road. I drive by there all the time and see her chickens out roaming around....mostly in the side-yard, but I've also seen them out front. No fence, no nothing. I don't know if she's ever had a problem with chickens in the road, but I'd be more worried about roaming dogs.

Also, my husband just told me this morning about something he saw on the news... a rooster that goes across a busy road every day because someone gives him a doughnut. He said they showed him crossing the road, dodging traffic to retrieve his daily doughnut, then heading back home with it. I don't know, I didn't see it
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Anyway, it might just come down to what your comfort level is.

And by the way .....
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I prefer knowing that my chickens are as safe as I can keep them at all times by having them in a fully enclosed run. I sometimes let them out a half hour before their bedtime to free-range under my supervision. With fast cars, hawks, loose dogs I am too scared to let them free range full time.

Good luck!
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My are not old enough to free range yet....
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I have lots and lots of country road miles. What I see is the chickens get smart enough to stay out of the road or they do not stick around long to multiply. So you may need to decide if you can handle a few losses or not.
 
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emmalynn

I have seen many people free-range around here, even near neighbors and busy streets. If you do that, though, you must be prepared to lose some chickens. If you want them safe, you should at least have a fenced-in area for them.

I personally wanted to free-range mine, but then got scared because of predators, dogs, cars, etc. I built a coop and secure run - 6 ft tall with netting across the top to deter hawks. Then, I fenced in an area for them to "free-range" in, not my whole property, but much bigger than their run. I can keep them in the run when I'm not home, or let them range around the bigger yard when I feel it's "safer".
 
Like several other posters mentioned, I would be worried about predators having essentially “free” access to the chickens. You may end up losing some here and there.

I have a neighbor (about 1 mile away) that fee range their chickens when they are home and they haven’t had a problem. I have never seen the chickens on the road or the remains of a chicken, but they do go right up to the edge of the road.

I think I would be to worried about their safety to free range. Free ranging isn’t an option for me because of all the neighborhood dogs so what I plan to do is make my pen bigger to give them more room and to have different things inside for them to do so they won’t get bored.

Welcome! This site has a ton of information and is very addicting! Good luck with your new babies and make sure to post some pictures!
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