Do you supervise your chickens?

[spartacus_63]

Definitely free range w/o supervision. I am away from home regularly and they eat way to much feed when they are cooped. I have six roos that keep the girlz supervised.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

I would love to let mine free range but fear I would never get them all herded back into the coop at night and wouldn't sleep a wink if I didn't.

 

[clairabean]

I work form home, so I am home most fo the time. My chickens free range in our unfenced yardw ehn I am home. If it is a day I am not home, they stay in the run. I am worried about them getting too close to the road or dogs coming for lunch.

 

[MareeZoCool]

My husband and I are both retired. We can keep an ey on our small flock most of the time. This rooster is pretty smart, he keeps the girls near the coop or our house most all the time they are out and about. The hawks cannot get them under our truck, nor see them under the pine trees. This rooster is a good boy.

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

My flock free ranges during the day, is locked in the coop at night. Yes, there are risks w/ this set-up--the benefit is fantastic eggs & a happy healthy flock with, IMHO, a better quality of life. I lost one hen to a hawk, had a loose dog wreak havoc & occasionally have to hunt for eggs. But, they don't have the pecking, picking & boredom issues so many mention w/ confinement. My roosters are alert guards & the hens have gotten quite good at taking cover when necessary. As others have stated, I feel the benefits for the chickens outweigh the risk of loss.

 

[EssexGirl]

The only time I supervise mine is when I let them out into the garden. They free range in the woods on their own but I keep an eye on them when they're in the garden just to try and keep the damage to our plants to a minimum. We don't seem to have a hawk problem, at least so far, and there is plenty of cover in the woods.

 

[PepsNick]

We hang discs around the yard to distract hawks and such, and we have cats around that keep the hawks from coming down. The cats have been around our chickens but haven't even been interested, and I doubt they can get them anyway. I supervise sometimes for FUN, but no, I don't usually supervise while they're out. At least not for predatory reasons.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Mine, and everybody else's I've read about, go back to the coop all on their own. No herding involved. They do it naturally.

 

[KimberlyJ]

Mine can only free range with supervision. we only have a half acre unfenced. The neighbor with the beautiful empty lot of healthy green grass would like to keep it that way.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

My chickens are separated into 3 pens right now. Only one group is allowed at a time (to avoid cross-breeding), and only one group can be out without supervision.

We have a lot of predators here: next door neighbors' dog, cats, hawks, foxes, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion.

Even more chicks are coming but we're making tractors for them so I don't have to confine them OR supervise.