Free Range or Not? What Does Everyone Prefer?

[chickenlover89]

FREE RANGE! i free range mine and they are all happier and healthier, and i find that they have a better attitude when they are free ranged, sometimes when they are penned up, they can be cranky. i still have a run so i can keep them penned up, but i really prefer free range.

 

[Melabella]

Thank you Coloradoalice and Katedf! My neighbor who has since moved had two adult hens that I thought would get picked off when they started letting them loose, but they made it with both onto the moving van! For the most part I noticed that they stayed under bushes and shrubs and in a big thick border between our properties heavy with thorns. I could hear them, but didn't see them too often. I loved hearing the cooing and clucking they did to each other. The metal can is a great tip, thanks! Where does one purchase these electric fence that have been mentioned here?

MB

 

[cpaggetti]

I am new to this. My 6 hens and accidental rooster have a 16' x 10 foot coop and another 40'x20' yard area completely secure with bird netting over the entire thing, even the sides. I have 3 cats and wanted to be sure they would be safe. I want to free range my chickens but they are not full grown yet (born March 15). I think my cats will leave them alone now that they are bigger. I am worried I will loose them, but I feel strongly that animals should have as natural an environment as possible. I feel the same way about my cats. Used to have 4. It is just part of life and I will just have to accept the losses as they come. I got the chickens for the eggs but now the eggs are a small part of owning chickens. They are a blast.

I think I'll remove the siding because even grass hoppers cannot get it! I bring my chickens weeds and clover every day plus berries and some bread. They come running when they see me headed their direction. My rooster has alarmed (different then his crow) whenever there is a problem, be it cat, bird, or the water got knocked over. He was an accident and we almost took him to auction. I am so glad we kept him...he is pretty nice but I do go in with a small stick for protection. He did come after me once. Funny, I have one hen that gets so upset and aggressive about my collecting the eggs, she is worse then the rooster.

Mister the Rooster (Cooper Maran, used to be Missy)
Rosie the Big Brain (Rhode Island Red)
Betty the Beep-Beep (Barred Plymouth Rock)
Cheep-cheep the Big Lady (Buff Orphington)
Sylvie the Rebel (Black Sexlink)
Annie the Fast One (White Leghorn)
Isabelle the Beauty (Golden-laced Wyondotte and Mister's girlfriend)

Today I collected an egg so big I can't close the lid on the carton!

Sorry, this is more a blog then a response. Okay I'm done.

 

[Melabella]

That was great CPagetti,

I have just girls, and after all I have read, perhaps next year I may get a roo. Ilove the Black Copper Maran, as Mister is,, they are beautiful!

Thanks for posting, and Welcome!

MB

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I don't free range because I don't have the room, and free ranging is illegal in my town. I keep my birds in a run. To keep them stimulated, I place sod and the floor, chicken safe plants, a perch, and a small second floor shelf so they can play up higher. My run is taller than me. The length s good for now, but depending on how big they get, we may expand it. I have 9 young birds. Most are bantams.

 

[DeanaC]

I don't let my chickens free range. Mine are in a giant run that we have a big coop in also. My husband and I and our 15 year old go out everynight and let the chickens run around the back yard and we sit with them and keep an eye on them and also interact with them. We can pick everyone up, they run up to us and drop or squat and we pick them up and they are happy to sit with us and get what we call the armpit scratch! They I know sounds weird but when we call their names they look at us. Not all the chickens just the one we call. We also are about 3 feet from a 2 lane highway and people think 35 miles an hour means hey go as fast as you want and if there is a deer honk and try to scare out of the way. And duh the deer jump in to the street! So yes I am saying these people are stupid. We only have 10 chickens too. I don't think it is really right or wrong to have free range chickens. We treat ours as pets and they are spoiled. Other's may not, so they let theirs free range and are willing to take the chances of loosing some. Or they do accept them as pets but feel it is better for them.

 

[CityGirl35]

Hawks are my big problem. I live in a suburb of a mid-size southern city, and the measure is before City Council to allow backyard chickens. In other words, I anticipated a successful passage of a pro-chicken ordinance. SO, until that happy day, NOISE is a problem, and brother, do my gals make noise when a hawk swoops into the yard. So far, no casualties; my son or I have been there. Today he beefed up our fishing-wire defense, but I know that a determined and hungry hawk will (HAS!) figured out how to get into the yard. And a noisy flock of even 5 chickens is NOT a good thing with neighbors close by on either side. I have a rather large backyard, wonderfully sufficient for my 5 chooks to free-range all day; but that may not last forever. Better to be safe (and quiet) in their spacious pen, with strictly supervised jaunts, than to get eaten or get reported.

 

[Eg-Head]

Yes, I too have hawks that nest across the street. Would love to 'Free Range' my girls, but we are not always in the backyard and have to keep them fenced in. Could anyone tell me what I could do to discourage these hungry hawks from swarming and scaring my girls? Thanks

 

[ChicksNherps]

I free range my girls, but I also have a run attached to their coop. They roam freely all day and go back in at night and I just close the door behind them. Haven't had any issues so far, and they LOVE it! One of my Silkies, Hachi, will jump and squawk for joy when she is set free if she was cooped up for more than a night

 

[Henny and Bea]

Hi,
What are "LGD's" and BOP's"?