Does anyone else Free Range?

[Bogtown Chick]

did you know they eat fleas and ticks?they run me over to get out in the morning .I do keep watch for chicken killers.they follow me around like puppy dogs so cool.






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Yes! Another benefit of free ranging. Every spring I used to have a tick or two crawling on me while I gardened. I haven't had a one in the last two years since I've had chickens. And the dog hasn't had much for them either like she usually does. We give her drops but in the spring they are so thick that sometimes there's one or two that latch on anyways. But not since we've had the chickens. I did however see a deer tick latched on to one of my hen's faces near her eye last year. They are so little. I promptly got that bugger off of her. I suppose their meanderings through the woods they'll brush up against a bush and they'll latch onto a feather and find their way to the blood. Nasty things....

 

[Beekissed]

I would both agree and disagree. If a predator is focused on an area, movement will be seen regardless of camouflage. However, a casually scanning predator could easily miss well-camouflaged movement, but it isn't going to miss a color that obviously contrasts with the environmental background. Other than in the snow, a white bird is a great big "here I am" sign, and actively draws in the focus of the predator. There's a reason that advertisers use contrasting colors to draw in your attention, and the military uses camo clothing to hide in plain sight. There's a reason certain color patterns survive in nature and others don't, and a lot of it is predator pressure driving natural selection. If you survive, you have a chance to reproduce. If you're eaten, your color phenotype dies off with you. There are even certain species of birds and mammals that molt/shed out twice yearly to take advantage of this principle, wearing white in the winter snow, then returning to their wild type coloration when the snow melts.

I disagree wholeheartedly with aerial preds targeting white birds...we've always had large numbers of white birds in the flocks(actually, the majority of our flocks are white birds) and never lost a one over 38 yrs of free ranging..chicks, half grown birds, adults, etc. In fact, the only one I did lose to a prey bird was a barred rock, at night, to a Great Horned Owl. We all have different experiences that we can draw conclusions from and say this or that bird is targeted because of color, but I think it has more to do with opportunity than color....breed used, their general experience on range, the system put into place to protect, etc.

As for me, I'm not a bit convinced that hawks can only see the white birds and so they snatch them first...they have extremely keen eyesight so far more advanced than our own and have no need to pick white birds as prey to make it easier for themselves. I think, because we can see them more easily, that we assume that if we were a hawk we'd pick those birds as the obvious ones but I've not seen anything yet to prove that in my lifetime. YMMV

 

[jakenhyde]

I do exactly the same. My hens go in their coop at night. In the morning, I feed them in their chicken run but keep the gate closed to the run until about noon. Reason for that is that they tend to lay their eggs in the morning. If I let them out onto the yard(I have 5.3 acres) before noon, they will get under my front deck to lay and I can't get at the eggs under there. So from noon until sundown, they have the run of the place. When they go back into the coop at sundown, I lock them in because we have all kinds of predators that roam around at night in this area. Even in the daytime I have to watch out for eagles and hawks the eyeball my girls.
I live in SW Montana and the ground has started the thaw. So the bugs and worms are getting active and the girls just love chasing around the yard after them.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Marmo66, what is a jed clampitt fence?

 

[whittychick]

Free range chickens are very happy chickens!!! I've been letting my ladies out around 530 and then they go in at dusk...slowly but surely they'll be out longer! Still afraid of the hawks!

 

[TnTom]

Ive been ranging for five years and just lost my Rooster to a dog. I expect to lose a ranging bird to yotes and bobcat but really burns me when neighbor dogs are the problems. Im very rural and natural predators go with the territory,

My hens are managing ok Im having a bigger problem with the lose than they are but he went down doing exactly what he lived for and that was protecting his girls. Cowboy was a grand rooster and cared for his hens always in a grand fashion. We'll miss him terribly.

I can add we now have fewer dogs in the hollow.

 

[Beekissed]

Good solution.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Tn Tom --
I'm so sorry for your loss of Cowboy. The risks of nature we accept when we keep chickens, but the risks of a neighbor's irresponsibility are infuriating. Glad you were able to create a permanent solution to the problem. It may not have been in time to save Cowboy, but at least his hens are safe from the same predator.

 

[ClukClukChickee]

I've seen and read a lot on here about coups and runs, but very little about free ranging. Mine are all out during the day and they head to the coup at night.

Does anyone else do this?

 

[logan394]

my one is out all the time apart from when there is bad wheather I live in new zealand and I have no problems