Free Range or Not? What Does Everyone Prefer?

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I would totally like to free range my eleven hens and two rooster too, but I can't afford to lose one. If I had a large flock then maybe. I did have twelve hens but I found one dead in the chicken house. I think one of my meat birds,(Cornish giant) jumped on her head in the middle of the night. They're all in the freezer now.

 
that to me seems like a ridiculous answer chickens are made to eat grasses. more like she swallowed something way to big i have had chickens get a piece of sinew way to big for her. she was doing the same thing i pulled it back out and she was fine but being the little piggies they are sometimes they just cant help themselves. i have also had one try to swallow a mouse that was too big same thing had to pull it out but sometimes u can't so they just choke to death.
 
Were they laying hens or meat birds. My laying hens are not near as voracious about food as the Cornish giants were. They are crazy about grapes and other berries though. those meat birds were pretty pushy and bigger and heavier than the layers so thats why i figured maybe it jumped off the perch onto my poor laying hen. who knows.
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Nickeyo said:
Shoot at the predators but miss them which will teach them that its dangerous to come to the yard and they will teach there babies not to come as well.
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Not everyone lives where they can legally shoot guns. Where you can shoot, what you can shoot varies
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For instance, all raptors are protected in the USA. It is illegal to shoot them for any reason. Even though you said "shoot and miss", what happens if you aren't a perfect shot and hit one?
 
Even though I have 5 acres, whenever I let my chickens out, they insist on going into the one neighbor's yard who can't stand them and calls us up. So now, I just let them out when she's not home, but even then, instead of staying on our property, they are 2 or 3 houses away sometimes. But I can just go outside and call "Hey chickens" and rattle the raisin package and they come running.
 
This thread interested me because I am just learning the in's and out's of having chickens. I have just in the last month started free ranging my hens and I go look to see what they are up to and count at least once an hour when they are out. Mine are truly free range. Once out of their coop, there are NO fences - they spend lots of time in the woods. The dopey things are starting to go pretty far and I just hope they stay away from the road! They love it, but it freaks me out. They do not go out unless I am home. I ended up with a Roo, and even though I didn't plan on it, it does make me feel a little safer with him out there. His name is Bully - because at first I thought he was just a big hen. (I mail ordered all hens, and wasn't expecting a Roo!) They are in a pretty well enclosed coops at night. My husband thinks it's varmint proof, but that remains to be seen, considering they've only lived out there two months. I fear the day when I lose one or more, I've grown very fond of several of them! I don't want to not let them out though. I truly believe that they deserve to be happy, and I want the health benefits for them and for the eggs they produce for my family. Even though they aren't even old enough to lay yet! Is 13 weeks too young for me to be letting them do all this? I kinda thought they would figure it out on their own.
 

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