Free Range in Central Florida

[DarrellP]

So I got my first birds at tractor supply last year... 8 hens turned out to be 6 hens and 2 roosters. I decided to move my roosters to a tractor and let them free range because a 6-2 ratio was no bueno. Everything was great for a while then a predator got one of the roosters so I moved the one back to the coop and run with the ladies. All is well. I decided to incubate - had 7 hatch. At 3 months I've got 3 new roosters for sure and 2 that I have my suspicions about... I've got plenty of space and I'd really like to have a bachelor pad set-up for the guys.. they all get along fine... but I've got so much space I'd really like for them to free range vs penning them up in a run. Anyone have any luck with free ranging i the Sarasota FL area? Predators are everywhere (racoon, owl, hawk, eagle, an occasional bobcat, or fox) -- my coop and run is very large and a rhino couldn't get in there. I have cameras set up and they racoons come by every night and don't even try anything now. I don't want to get rid of the roosters but I also don't want to serve them up as a buffet. TONS of cover, but I thought that would be enough last try... any hopes of me successfully free ranging these fellas? <no dogs of my own right now and willing to get a guard goose or two if that would help>

 

[Debbie292d]

Free-ranging depends on the predators in your immediate area, and it sounds like you already know. You can get solar motion lights that'll scare them off at night, and that does work here, but we've also got two dogs that keep them safe during the day.

A goose may or may not help call the alarm, but a hungry fox wouldn't care; it'll just run up and grab what it wants.

Something has already helped itself to one of your roosters, so I wouldn't do it unless you had a dog to keep predators away.

 

[Ridgerunner]

any hopes of me successfully free ranging these fellas?

Not without risk. You can train them to sleep in a predator safe coop at night and reduce your risk that way, but dawn and dusk are high risk times. I would not let them out too early and would be prompt in locking them up at night.

During the day there is not much you can do without locking them up. You can help protect them from non-flying predators by using electric netting but that requires maintenance. You have to keep plants from growing up in it and shorting it out and they are still vulnerable to flying predators. You could stay out with them, which will help, but people on this forum have had a fox take a chicken withing 15 feet of where they were standing so that is not a guarantee.

Some people can go years free ranging before they have a loss. Some people will lose one the first day. You just never know.

 

[Wild Iris]

I free range in the boonies of Alabama. Our German Shepherd marks his territory and most of the 4-legged predators respect that; he does not actively guard the chickens. Forest hawks and snakes are our most successful predators so far. If you decide to free-range, you should expect to lose more than if you kept them in the run.

I have a game rooster who, when he first arrived, engaged a hawk and successfully protected his flock; now he is exceedingly alert for the danger. For the most part, the whole flock works together to keep an eye out for trouble.

Florida Bullfrog has written a very good book on raising free range chickens. It's on Amazon and titled "Free Range Survival Chickens."