Cruel to not let them free range?

[kera!]

I think if you cant free range then you do what you think is best for them, I cant so I am going to make here lives as good as possile in a pen, following the 4ft inside 10 ft ourside rule maybe a bit more and a chicken tractor for the summer to put them on the front lawn.

 

[critterranch]

i free range my silkies they are a liitle slow. lol but i have a junkie yard some would say. but i have old table and chairs they always seem to stay under. but they usually dont go more than 40 or 50 feet from coop and i have 3 acres. lol just make something they can hide under. maybe little a- frame coop with food enough. you can make one out of pallets. i totally like to free range i think they are healthy birds and lay more because of it. all my chickens free range and its is funny because certain chicken have friends they stay with and places they hang out. plus certain one always sleep next to each other.

 

[critterranch]

i had a 3 dog attack on new years. all my survived but one of my runner ducks. they all split up which was good. the dogs were confused. the chickens all hid which was good. cause silkies cant fly. some of my silkie hid until dark the attack was at noon. but they came out to go to bed. i dont even know where they hid. 6 of them were MIA till bedtime. poviding a place to hide is key i think. i always feel if a dog get in cage they are trapped i would rather lose one not all of them.

i also have cukooo marans that free range they call out to each other when a hawk is near. it is pretty cool to watch. all the chicken sramble to hide until hawk is gone. first time i seen it i didn't even realize what was going on. until it was over. the silkies take their lessons from them. i use to have a spangled bantam oe roo that guarded the back yard of hawks. plus he called his girls friends to the food and let them eat first. he lived a long life of 5 years. and all those years were free range. he died in the middle of the night one night. i do not know why he died. old age i guessed. no damage to him. just looked like he fell a sleep.

 

[kla37]

Mine don't free range yet. We live in the woods and I've always seen hawks sitting on our fences, and even right on the deck. I follow the 10 sq feet of run space for them, and they seem happy. They gets lots of attention, and I put flock blocks in the run, heads of cabbage, scratch, etc for them to peck around in, and dump a load of fallen leaves in the run about once a week for them to play in and shred. With all the leaves off the trees and deck construction going on at my house I don't want them to go out yet. When they do get to go out it will only be when I and our dog can be with them, and only for a little while before dusk. They are happy, healthy, and alive, so I don't think it's cruel. I loved the colors of them when I got them, but looking at them now, the light splash cochin and bright buff orpington look like neon signs for a hawk flashing "FREE LUNCH." The black australorps, partridge cochin, blue cochin, and barred rock probably have some better camouflage going for them. Since the BO is my 8 yr old's favorite, I really don't want anything to happen to her! They get plenty of love!