Last summer when the coyotes raided, the only thing left behind when my rooster and several hens disappeared was ONE tail feather of my rooster. Coyotes and fox can carry them away without a trace.
Does anyone else Free Range?
- Thread starter Quack House
- Start date
But I like the phrase "I do whatever makes them happy." That should be a bumper sticker.
Added a GP dog to my free range setup yesterday. He seems to be taking to the job very quickly and is out on patrol tonight. He will certainly help my older farm dog who has been doing this so well for so many years. The dog was free, so it's not any more expensive than an additional scoop of dog food per day to add this to my setup.
Yep, Great Pyrenees.
Since we live in the city, we let them out in the back yard for about 2 hours 4-5x a week.. However their run is whole length of our home.. They dig in the dirt & the sun hits that part of the yard for about 2-3 hours a day. I catch them sunning & chasing the crickets.. I put wood in a stacked area for the crickets to breed.. they wait for us to let them out at the same time every day.. Also, we have bird netting over the run.. Our roo is medium size, so I stay out durring the backyard time. We have a garden & I often find a few that have snuck in when I am busy in another part of the yard.. Bratt's.. Our border collie might protect them if a hawk swooped down?? She is more interested in the new baby chicks.. She helps the Moma keep them close te her.. She does enjoy her job.. Our German Shepard wants to eat our cat for dinner.. I can most likely find her by the gate durring the day just watching & drilling over the flock.. We put her up when they free range out in the back yard.. Her & the cat have been making friends
our cat knows when the chickens get let out, so she hangs with us in the back at that time.. She fell asleep on the love chair and our German Shepard was like " huh what are you doing back here"?? She just sat there & stared, sniffed, slobbered all over her.. Our cat is almost 20 years old, she does not care to take off running.. Free range is the best..
When we first started looking at coops we copied yours on our iPad.. Love your portable laying house!!Oh they'll love those boxes! I free range too. I was up in the air about it...but I decided to let them have a more natural life...and of course they seem so happy to be let out each morning. I've taken 1 loss last fall with a new bird which was bantam and hooded (a silkie) I'm sure a bird of prey dipped down and picked her up. She was new...and the others were spending the day in the run (must have been a weather front that they stayed in) and they must have kicked her out of the run. Well anyways she didn't see her predator coming I'm sure. Pretty confident we had a hawk find her. I've seen them harass wild mallards nesting on the pot holes on the property. We are 5 1/2 acres of wooded boundaries, low spots...and a wide open 2-3 acres of lawn with sporadic mature pines, picnic table, deck and apple tree and landscaping to duck under. The chooks make their rounds...even over to the neighbors (who are only up on the weekends here in vacationland of MN)...but mostly forage in the brush and woods. We have a big red New Hampshire roo in which hawks have dive bombed but his size and keen eye for the sky have kept everybody under cover. I have one more silkie from a pair of hens I got last fall. He has not accepted her even being coop and run mates all winter. It will be interesting to see if she tags along with the crew or choses to stay in the run and coop. She's had a "Hair cut" on top so she can see pretty well. Plus she's pretty flighty and saavy. She's bonded with a couple of the hens... so we'll see. But I love it...I like looking out in the yard and seeing them have free will. The eggs are bright orange and the yellow lab sleeps on the deck with one eye open... Life is good free-ranging.
This is a photo off the internet...but I had a weasel last winter. Very small and young...but I noted blood on my rooster's leg on day. And then soon all the mice I had saw in the run during the winter were gone...and he disappeared too. And we had one Black Bear Sow visit and bust open some fencing and framework to my pop hole of the coop. She just had woken up and was raiding bird feeders in the area--just hungry after a long winter's nap. I was glad the girls were out of the coop already! LOL. Otherwise that's been it. The birds will be 2 April 13.
I've even built this free range nest box...if the girls are up at the house and don't want to truck all the way back down to the coop. LOL. It's portable and I can put it in fave spots...but this is where it has stayed for the most part. Centrally located for them.
Oh these pictures make me long for summer.... *sigh*... 6 months in a coop and run is too long for the chooks! Sorry to go on...I just feel blessed and lucky that I can give this to these fun creatures...chickens. Love Free Rangin'!
they look so happy.. Love the seating area you have created.. Wonderful area to just enjoy a cup of tea..
What do you use to keep the crows close by? Food?? Is that all you use, besides the 22?
My next door neighbor puts out corn for the wildlife and so a large crow population has formed between our property and his. I use many things to insure a successful free range......here's my list:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bees-key-points-to-successful-and-safe-free-ranging
Or just plant corn to eat. Every time I do that the crows come flapping in to eat them all before they're an inch tall.
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