Free Range Coop question

[Ghosty]

I free range my animals and love the benefits! I was suggesting that they stay in the run when they are not home. When they are home I highly encourage that they free range.

If you have domestic chickens that will go in a coop reliably, you could add a solar auto door. If I had a lot of acreage, I would like to try something like the OP proposes. Something similar to what centrarchid does, individual flocks with their own range. I'm a little drawn toward game fowl though. It would be in the dream flock thread. I don't mean to pick at you or anyone. I just feel like a lot of reactions to "I want to free range my birds" is

 

[happy duck]

If I had a lot of acreage, I would like to try something like the OP proposes. Something similar to what centrarchid does, individual flocks with their own range. I'm a little drawn toward game fowl though. It would be in the dream flock thread. I don't mean to pick at you or anyone. I just feel like a lot of reactions to "I want to free range my birds" is

I feel ya too. My concern is them just not being lock up at night....but I am totally on board with them free ranging.

 

[Ghosty]

I feel ya too. My concern is them just not being lock up at night....but I am totally on board with them free ranging.

Oh, mine too. I forget to close the door all the time. I'm like better go close the chicken door, an hour later...I had an armadillo in the run last night bouncing off the hardware cloth. It scared the crap outta me. When it found it's way out after I blocked the coop door and opened the big run door, it shot out like a lightening bolt. Never seen an armadillo run like that. I have my auto door parts, need to get it finished. You could always add a solar auto door for remote locations.

 

[happy duck]

Oh, mine too. I forget to close the door all the time. I'm like better go close the chicken door, an hour later...I had an armadillo in the run last night bouncing off the hardware cloth. It scared the crap outta me. When it found it's way out after I blocked the coop door and opened the big run door, it shot out like a lightening bolt. Never seen an armadillo run like that. I have my auto door parts, need to get it finished. You could always add a solar auto door for remote locations.

That is so scary! I think the OP needs to get an automatic door so when they are gone: chickens enjoy themselves in the day and then door closes at a certain time in the night. I don't raise chickens but, correct me if I am wrong, but they will go into there coop at night right? Ducks(that is what I raise) are a night out so they will not go into there coop unless you go out and herd them in.

 

[Ghosty]

That is so scary! I think the OP needs to get an automatic door so when they are gone: chickens enjoy themselves in the day and then door closes at a certain time in the night. I don't raise chickens but, correct me if I am wrong, but they will go into there coop at night right? Ducks(that is what I raise) are a night out so they will not go into there coop unless you go out and herd them in.

It would probably be best to tend to them everyday and herd the ducks in then. My guineas would go in on their own, but who knows when a few would have a stubborn night and not want to. If I couldn't catch them, up in the tree or on the ground they stayed. Game fowl can be trained to go in a coop, but I think for it to be roomy with higher roosts helps or an open covered run. My guineas always roosted in the run as long as a storm couldn't get at them. One of my SG pullets stayed out for two nights in a row this week by herself even though I kept the door open well after dark, and the big coop door was open and their light on.I thought something got her the first night. Silly girl.

 

[Ghosty]

I guess in my research i was finding that if you give them a coop with feed and keep them in there and a run until they start laying they will come back each night. I'm completely new to this so I don't know if that's true or not. My plan was to put them in an enclosed run until they start laying and then allow them free range while we are there for a while. Then completely free. Maybe it won't work. I hunt and trap predators out here all winter long. Not much for coyotes here, more possum and coon than anything. Is my plan not going to work?

Your plan will work. Sorry for the hijack. I honestly did not register this post I guess. Good luck and enjoy! I hope you don't get as chicken crazy as I am! If I had 80 acres...

 

[Maugwa]

I'm brand new to chickens. We have 80 acres with a home on it that we use as a cabin. We are generally there multiple times a week. I'm building a chicken coop that is 4x8. I'd like to allow the chickens to free range but also a safe place to stay. I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with a fenced in run that allowed the chickens to fly in and out as they please? Was thinking of putting electric fence around it to keep predators out. Any thoughts? TIA! Right now we have 9 week old chicks and 4 ducks.

I grew up on a 24,000 acre ranch and never even heard of a chicken run until I was well in my 20s. We kept at least 100 chickens around there, as well as ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, etc. The small door on the hen house was a hole, no door to it, and was never made to shut. All of my Aunts and Uncles, and people I knew as a kid, all had the same sort of set ups. They, also like us, for the most part had a yard full of dogs. Dogs that can't be trained to leave chickens alone didn't last long.

We almost always had half a dozen dogs, often more. Dogs well bred enough that pups sold well. We always had a few Aussies, or Border Collies to work cattle and horses. We kept a few sight hounds (Greyhound or Wolfhound) because not only did we want to keep coyotes away, we wanted them caught. Wyoming prime winter coyotes were $80+ back then in 1970s dollars, and we got many, easily well over 100 a year. We usually had a coon hound around too. They put intruding coons up in a tree (if they don't catch it first), and set off their alarm for you to come out and shoot it in the middle of the night. When coyotes, were $80, coons were $40 - $50. That's more than coyote cash, as it is way easier to get several times more coons than coyotes. My mom brought home a Basset Hound once and we laughed, we thought, there's a dog that'll never catch anything, but what we hadn't thought of was how much the other dogs paid attention to where she was going. They all had noses, but hers was the best, and even though she couldn't catch anything, she always found the most stuff to try to catch. When she found something, the chase was on, sight hounds in the lead, cow dogs flanking ready for quick turns, Coon Hounds not far behind yelping so the whole world knows there's a chase on, and Basset and miniature Poodle a mile behind wishing they could keep up. Miniature Poodle, you may ask, what can he do? Well he can pull a bunny out of an irrigation pipe, squeeze into under floors of sheds just off the ground, get into gaps in a pile of fence posts, etc. when he finally gets there. If he went in a pipe, every other dog we had would be waiting at the other end.

We still lost a few birds a year, not as many as most would think though, to hawks, and eagles more than anything, but as you might imagine, most of those land based varmints learned to swing wide of our ranch house, or they died. Predators have territories, and dogs are predators. They owned the territory near our house, and every wild animal around, even the mountain lions, and bob cats, skunk and badgers, all knew it. We always had enough broodies and chicks in the Spring to cover the birds we did lose, and plenty left for our freezer and friends too. But without those dogs, our shotguns and rifles, and somebody around almost always, I doubt our birds would of lasted a month. I would say there is no fence short of a fortified fully enclosed run, auto door, auto feed, etc that would work in your absence. I think you may be better off feeding wild turkeys (or starting your own semi - wild bunch), and buying breakfast eggs at a store IMHO. i would be concerned even if they were in such a safe run when nobody was there, and if you are going to be there a few days every week, I'd save the free ranging for then, and I'd still have a good dog to keep an eye on things. A dog that came and went when I did -- no dog should ever live waiting to see you a few times a week, no fowl should either IMHO.

I have no doubt that one of the wisest and truest sayings that I ever heard went something like this; "Of all the ideas and principals that all gardeners have ever thought up, there is still nothing, and never will there ever be, anything better for a garden, than a gardener's shadow". It also applies to farms, ranches, and pets too.
Even with all the fancy doo-dads things still are going to happen, count on it. Breakers pop, GFIs need reset, fencers stop working, wells stop working, solar panels get knocked over, a chicken gets it's leg or head stuck, a pipe breaks, a door gets jammed, somebody got cut and is bleeding, a rooster lost an eye, that hen looks to be sick, a stray bull knocks the fence down, a hen goes egg bound, a tree falls the worst way it could have, etc. etc, etc. There are too many gadgets that all, sooner or later, always fail. And too many natural things that will inevitably come around. Just yesterday I had a hen that must have been spooked and ran herself into a dormant stickery rose bush and was stuck fast in a natural version of Velcro, lol. Gloves and pruning sheers, and I got her right out. I don't know how long she was stuck, I got off at 5:00 and found her, just guessing but I'd say around Noon, or longer, I thought she was going to drink all the water in the font, she went straight to it when free. She was thirsty, but fine. it wasn't hot out, or even that may have killed her, 24 or 48 hours would have for sure. Most are easy fixes. Hundreds of things that usually work adds up to too often something that didn't. None are something you want to find out about 3, 4, or 5 days too late. A rancher's work time is about 90% spent on fixing these issues as they come up daily, and rearranging priorities, than is spent herding and feeding livestock, there are just so many things to fix always, so many things that usually work but the few that aren't working still makes an ongoing long list that never ends as new issues come along. Maybe even there is a neighbor willing to swap chores for eggs, but me, I wouldn't even consider raising any domestic animal without somebody's eyes on them at least once daily. There is nothing wrong with not having the time to make the commitment you must have to raise animals, as long as you recognize it, and admit it, and have fun doing something else.

 

[Ghosty]

I grew up on a 24,000 acre ranch and never even heard of a chicken run until I was well in my 20s. We kept at least 100 chickens around there, as well as ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, etc. The small door on the hen house was a hole, no door to it, and was never made to shut. All of my Aunts and Uncles, and people I knew as a kid, all had the same sort of set ups. They, also like us, for the most part had a yard full of dogs. Dogs that can't be trained to leave chickens alone didn't last long.

We almost always had half a dozen dogs, often more. Dogs well bred enough that pups sold well. We always had a few Aussies, or Border Collies to work cattle and horses. We kept a few sight hounds (Greyhound or Wolfhound) because not only did we want to keep coyotes away, we wanted them caught. Wyoming prime winter coyotes were $80+ back then in 1970s dollars, and we got many, easily well over 100 a year. We usually had a coon hound around too. They put intruding coons up in a tree (if they don't catch it first), and set off their alarm for you to come out and shoot it in the middle of the night. When coyotes, were $80, coons were $40 - $50. That's more than coyote cash, as it is way easier to get several times more coons than coyotes. My mom brought home a Basset Hound once and we laughed, we thought, there's a dog that'll never catch anything, but what we hadn't thought of was how much the other dogs paid attention to where she was going. They all had noses, but hers was the best, and even though she couldn't catch anything, she always found the most stuff to try to catch. When she found something, the chase was on, sight hounds in the lead, cow dogs flanking ready for quick turns, Coon Hounds not far behind yelping so the whole world knows there's a chase on, and Basset and miniature Poodle a mile behind wishing they could keep up. Miniature Poodle, you may ask, what can he do? Well he can pull a bunny out of an irrigation pipe, squeeze into under floors of sheds just off the ground, get into a gaps in a pile of fence posts, etc. when he finally gets there. If he went in a pipe, every other dog we had would be waiting at the other end.

We still lost a few birds a year, not as many as most would think though, to hawks, and eagles more than anything, but as you might imagine, most of those land based varmints learned to swing wide of our ranch house, or they died. Predators have territories, and dogs are predators. They owned the territory near our house, and every wild animal around, even the mountain lions, and bob cats, skunk and badgers, all knew it. We always had enough broodies and chicks in the Spring to cover the birds we did lose, and plenty left for our freezer and friends too. But without those dogs, our shotguns and rifles, and somebody around almost always, I doubt our birds would of lasted a month. I would say there is no fence short of a fortified fully enclosed run, auto door, auto feed, etc that would work in your absence. I think you may be better off feeding wild turkeys (or starting your own semi - wild bunch), and buying breakfast eggs at a store IMHO. i would be concerned even if they were in such a safe run when nobody was there, and if you are going to be there a few days every week, I'd save the free ranging for then, and I'd still have a good dog to keep an eye on things. A dog that came and went when I did -- no dog should ever live waiting to see you a few times a week, no fowl should either IMHO.

I have no doubt that one of the wisest and truest sayings that I ever heard went something like this; "Of all the ideas and principals that all gardeners have ever thought up, there is still nothing, and never will there ever be, anything better for a garden, than a gardener's shadow". It also applies to farms, ranches, and pets too.

Dogs are part of the equation for a lot of chicken keepers I think. I have 3 dogs around my chickens, 2 border collie/pyrenees mix, and a cairn terrier. My cairn always has free run. My neighbors have dogs, but the ones that run free stay clear of here for now. I have to monitor my collies. We had a dog shooting incident over guineas in the neighborhood not too long ago. But, the same dog chased my 3 yr old. I sat outside and stalked her daily with a slingshot. She quit coming around then. Then I got my collies. When I get an electric fence up, it will be baited with peanut butter for my dogs the first time. I bet they never touch it again.

 

[aart]

I raised pheasants last year and didn't loose a single one.

Well, there ya go then!

 

[smalltownflock]

I would only free range them if you will be sleeping there at night and can close them in their coop. I let my flock out every morning and they free range all day, then around dusk they put themselves to bed and I go out, count heads, and shut them in for the night. Its worked out well for me the past couple years. Just keep them in the coop for a week, then give them access to the run for another week, still shutting them in their coop each night. At this point they will know where home is and where a safe nights sleep is and will put themselves to bed every night. or at least that's the thought haha