can I call my chickens free rangers?

[zazouse]

I think if they are in any kind of penned area, they would be considered cage free.

I call mine free range we have just shy of 100 acres, mine come in at night to roost, but they are up and out at the crack of dawn, i have a contained area but most of them just fly over the fence in the morning.
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[drsooseme2]

I have 4 chickens in an 8' x 3' run attached to their coop but we move it every couple of days. Does that make them free range?

We should invent some new terms like fresh range and wide range. To me, free range usually comes with more risk so we decided enclosed but fresh would be our best bet so we built a tractor.

Fresh range = not in dirt, rocks or concrete
Wide range = more than x feet per bird
Free range = free to go where they please, no boundaries?

Whatever the wordage...all are better than industrial chicken houses!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
That's for sure!

And added on to my post, I don't call mine free range. I'd love to let mine roam my property all day, but we have so many predators around here, that I don't think I'd have any chickens if I did.

 

[Akane]

Some people are going to the term pasture raised because of the USDA's poor definition of free range. No one who buys eggs around here would accept the USDA's definition and would not consider a dirt or any other pen to be free range. That would be misleading to the people buying eggs and expecting birds to be running around on grass with vegetation and bugs available all the time. Most people don't realize free range eggs in the store are not what they view as free range.

 

[feathersnuggles]

This is an interesting topic. My five hens range on our urban lot, which gives them a ratio of just under 1000 sq. feet of land for each bird. Our yard is fence enclosed. They have not turned all the ground into plain dirt. They "mow" the grass and weeds to a couple inches - DH doesn't have to do that anymore. They also have 5 cedars with low branches they jump on, and they dig big holes in the cedar duff under those trees. They dig all along and under the raspberry & honeysuckle patches. They forage around the compost pile and take dust baths under our deck. We have a maple tree that used to have some sparse growth underneath, but now it's just dirt. I think if there's too little sunlight, birds' feet can turn the ground to dirt. Otherwise, grass and plants can maintain some growth. Although if we had more birds, more density, it might all be dirt. I could see that.

 

[trunkman]

Thanks for your responses, it answered my question. I'm just glad I can let them out in the evenings and all day during the weekends, they love the freedom and all the bugs and bushes to hide in. One thing I do know for sure tho is that I'll never go back to store bought eggs!