do you stay with your flock while free ranging?

[cafe]

I stay outside most of the time mine are free ranging, but that is because we live in town and don't have a fenced-in yard (yet). Sometimes I'll run inside for a couple of minutes, especially if they look like they've settled down by the house in the shade.

This morning I went in for a couple of minutes while they were out and when I came back out, this is what greeted me at the door.

 

[MareeZoCool]

My hubby sits outside most all day long in the summer. He won't admit his love for the chickens, but he is super protective of them & even shoo's away the deer that try to steal the chicken's feed. Hubby broke his back 12 years ago, so he's home/ retired now. He's outside while I'm inside & vise versa. weird, but works for us.

 

[Jeeper1540]

i only let them free range if im home, but i am in the house most of the time. i let them out around 2:00 when they are done laying and put them back in 6:30-7:00 before alot of the oels come out, because i lost a chicken a couple weeks ago cuz i left them out to almost 8:30. I always go check o them every so often though.

ETA: When im inside, i sometimes leave my dog out, because he wont go after the chickens, and he will chase off another dog if he sees it

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
I had them out yesterday, when I had a visitor. When I came back from showing the visitor to her car, all the girls were sitting on my glider where I usually sit. Do you think they missed me?

 

[PhilErvin]

Quote:
Absoulutley !

 

[LadyBeartoothMamma]

yeah i stay with them because we have hawks and buzzards in the neighbor hood so, but i dont mind staying with them while they free range I enjoy watching them, they all have different personalities and they still like to play Keep away from each other its still funny.,

 

[AlaskGirl]

Great story: I let my six out today to range while in my company. No sooner had it begun to downpour and they let themselves back into the coop!! The downpour lasted just a few minutes but it was meant to be

 

[michickenwrangler]

We have a lot of hawks, eagles, coyotes and raccoons by us so either a human is outside or we leave the dog outside, although we have dense woods all around our house and we try to keep the chickens out of it.

 

[jgilliatt]

I let my little ladies out each morning with the same question - How far will they go? At first it was just to a near-by tree with plenty of undergrowth. Then they started moving up the yard to another area of undergrowth. Then to my garden (We did some quick fencing.) Then to the side of the house and even to the front (We really don't want all of the neighbors to know about the chickens). We have four acres spreading into wood to the back but they like moving toward the house. I am considering laying out watermelon and other treats to lure them towards the back, although I worry that there might be more preditors back there. I love that they are free range during the day - they always come running if we are outside.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I usually let them out, clean out the waters, food bowls, rake the coop/run, add new shavings, then I sit and watch them scratch until they go to bed. We have a fox family who come thru quite often..... Watching my girls for a couple hours every night is great therapy..