Do you free range your chickens?

[VHoffman]

So I’ve been terrified to let my girls free range for many reasons. One I’m worried they won’t come back (silly I know). Two I’m worried about predators. We live on about 25 acres so lots of possibilities. We have had issues with our neighbors young dogs jumping the fence so they are my main concern besides cats. Most other predators come out at night. Thoughts? Am I nuts? My family thinks I’m over thinking it. PSA they have a big outdoor area and we have 20 chickens.

I don't free range my chickens because I don't want then to get hurt by predators. They have and indoor coop area that has a door to an outside area that I open in the morning. At night, they automatically go inside their coop and I just close the door for the night.

 

[Trazom]

We let them roam from 10am so they get some time to lay and have a good breakfast before going out to scratch and snack. They have good cover from aerial predators, and wild daytime four-legged predators are not much of a concern. My neighbors and many folks in rural Mississippi have chickens, goats, and other livestock; so, varmints and stray dogs that harass don’t tend to hang around very long.

I love how they follow me around the yard, but it’s a pain keeping them out of my workshop when I need the doors open.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

We let our hens free range from when the sun rises, to dark. They have never been predatorized

 

[janiedoe]

So I’ve been terrified to let my girls free range for many reasons. One I’m worried they won’t come back (silly I know). Two I’m worried about predators. We live on about 25 acres so lots of possibilities. We have had issues with our neighbors young dogs jumping the fence so they are my main concern besides cats. Most other predators come out at night. Thoughts? Am I nuts? My family thinks I’m over thinking it. PSA they have a big outdoor area and we have 20 chickens.

I do not think you are nuts for protecting them. You are being responsible. Don't feel guilty for keeping them safe.
I let roosters and cockerels free range. Hens, pullets, and chicks are limited to the chicken yard when I am home, and the covered run, when I'm not. They are all, including the males, confined if predators are spotted.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

With 25 acres, it's safe to say (in my opinion) that your chickens will be fine! I think as long as they have adequate hiding places (shrubs, trees, etc.) they will survive. If one or two don't make it, I recommend putting them back into the pen/coop for however long you feel it takes to make the predators think they will no longer have an easy meal. This means after the predator is no longer a threat (e.x.: they moved into a new territory) then you can go back to free-ranging, and make sure the chickens have good hiding spots as I mentioned above! I'm not the best at free-ranging knowledge, but I tried to supply what I think makes sense.

Also, we free-range our chickens twice or once a day under constant supervision for about an hour.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We have 5 acres in a rural area and I let them out to free range but I always supervise. I try to let them out for an hour each day… it’s become my relaxation time and I’ve grown to love the quiet and watching them.

We have red tails, cooper hawks, a cat that tried to attack one of hens, ground hogs, and last year a handful of dogs that got loose and ended up in our yard. Plus foxes, raccoons and coyotes . The hawks are our biggest problem though.

We also built a chicken tractor (enclosed pen) on wheels that I use sometimes. It’s not 100% predator proof say from a fox digging under it, but I can put them in there while I water the garden and still have an eye on them.

Unfortunately right now they are fully locked down due to a confirmed cases of Avian Flu 11 miles from us. they are not pleased.

Sorry to hear about the AI near you. Best wishes for the safety of your flock.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We started out, as some others have, by free ranging for a few hours late in the afternoon. Gradually we let them out earlier and earlier. We now open the gates to their large run about 10 a.m. They know where the nests are and use them. We put a feeder out in the open area, and there is a larger one in the coop, where the grit and oyster shell also are. There are water buckets all over.

Predators have not been a problem. I credit our two Shelties for that; they spend a lot of time outside with the chickens, barking at anything out there that moves, such as squirrels and falling walnuts. We also have two good roosters. We're pretty isolated out here and I would say the chickens probably roam on about 8 acres although we are surrounded by about 40 of open pasture. We have 25 hens and two roos.

 

[WoDia]

The risk of predation is high where I live…. many acres of forest.… coyotes, bobcats, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and more. I‘m not willing to lose my flocks to them, so they spend their days in big covered runs layered with chain link and hardware cloth (buried underground as well), and railroad tie borders. I also have 2 heavy duty chicken tractors that I move around using my UTV.

For all of you that don’t have a predator issue…. ”You are soooooo fortunate!“ I wish I could free-range mine again, but I’ve had one too many losses over the years.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

I used to free-range but haven't lately due to the Avian Influenza outbreak and general biosecurity fears. The second reason was that after a couple years of having chickens, my yard is now barren. It used to have a variety of wild grass, flowers and weeds, but 60+ chickens and 6 geese will pluck those to the dirt as they're coming up. So I've decided the confinement while AI passes over will allow the yard some time to recover.

Neighbors' dogs IMO are one of the worst killers, second would be aerial predators. Where I live, a coyote will also easily get the birds if you forget to close the door up right away.

I have had varied experiences with hawks. Once was in an open area where the chickens left the yard and onto the hill beyond. The other was when a young cockerel was cornered between a wall and a fence. And finally, I have had it happen twice where the hawk was in the tree the chickens were under/near and swooped down for a meal. Those incidents made me decide that trees don't count as 'cover' for chickens, but rather low bushes and shrubs (case-in-point: the rooster who was attacked from the tree was able to escape into a fairly dense bougainvillea bush, into which the hawk was unwilling to follow).

Certainly ranging helps cut down on the poop load (and feathers too, when they're molting). It also helps when introducing new chicks, so that they have room to get away from older chickens during the day time.

Given that disease prevention is so important when keeping valuable stock for breeding, I'd probably lean away from it in that case. But if it's just an egg-laying flock, absolutely.

 

[micstrachan]

We started out, as some others have, by free ranging for a few hours late in the afternoon. Gradually we let them out earlier and earlier. We now open the gates to their large run about 10 a.m. They know where the nests are and use them. We put a feeder out in the open area, and there is a larger one in the coop, where the grit and oyster shell also are. There are water buckets all over.

Predators have not been a problem. I credit our two Shelties for that; they spend a lot of time outside with the chickens, barking at anything out there that moves, such as squirrels and falling walnuts. We also have two good roosters. We're pretty isolated out here and I would say the chickens probably roam on about 8 acres although we are surrounded by about 40 of open pasture. We have 25 hens and two roos.

Haha! Barking at falling walnuts! That’s hilarious! I had a sheltie growing up.