Free Range or Not? What Does Everyone Prefer?

[aggiemae]

We free range!

Buff Orps on the run:

 

[Suzierd]

My girls live in a section of my orchard that about 90 square yards and completely covered with poultry netting top and sides.  They have five fruit trees and assorted bushes. I have two coops inside, one large 5' x 5'. A small one I use for newbies. Only one sleeps in the large coop. All the others sleep in the grapefruit tree.

. I guess you'd call this a "yard." However,once in a while I let them out for a "field trip" into the larger yard. They love it. As soon as I open the gate and yell "Field Trip" they run out. It is a totally different experience and they seem to have a ball. I stay out there with them to be sure they don't wander off the reservation and to be sure hawks don't get any ideas.  They seem to love the experience I have no problems getting them back into their yard. 

Do you mind posting a picture of your covered orchard, I'm getting ready to do he same thing and would love ideas. By poultry netting do you mean chicken wire? It would be nice to keep the birds out to so they don't get the cherries. But that could get expensive. Do you keep your trees cut really short to keep a covering over them? My trees are small still just planted last year and I haven't tried pruning yet scared I'll mess it up.

 

[NHchicks]

We free range!

Buff Orps on the run:

I don't know if that's your video, but that's the best! Love it.

We free range, but our dog is like a rooster, she lays on the deck with her nose over the edge and watches and listens all day. Nothing she likes better than chasing predators away. Sometimes one does get gotten - we lost one July 4th when we neglected to lock them up before heading out, boo hoo. Other than that, I haven't had a predator loss in about 3 yrs.

A friend has the ultimate arrangement tho - she has a large open outdoor area with chicken wire fencing around it - not absolutely critter proof, but enough to deter them during the day. The chickens traipse thru brush, grass, bushes which is contained but they probably don't realize it much.

 

[Hayduke27]

I have kind of an urban free range setting. I have the whole shebang with coop, run, all the necessities. However, I also have a fenced yard and more often than not, the chooks are allowed free reign of the yard. On the one hand, I have to be careful about keeping them contained (for the neighbors' sake), but on the other hand, it's great because so far the predators have been minimal. I live downtown, and I never really see coyotes, hawks, foxes, or weasels. I think there is still a chance of the occasional raccoon or skunk, especially at night, so I lock them in the coop for the dark hours. However, so far I have been pleasantly surprised with my attempt at urban free ranging!

 

[hannahrn02]

Hello-
I have recently transitioned from full-time business woman to full-time (mostly) mommy of 3 and went full out with motherhood and we have successfully (so far!!) raised 6 chickens- they are about 12 weeks old now, and have been in their coop outside for some time now. We have really "learned as we go", and it has been fun. One of the difficulties is deciding if we should free-range or not. Our carpenter converted a shed on our property of 1.3 acres to essentially predator-proof it, he is a bird expert and is the local president of our MA agricultural society. Our property is very wooded, and is mostly surrounded by conservation land, as well as wet-lands. We were nervous to allow the "girls" to free-range on our property for fear of them getting snatched by a predator- we know we have tons of wild-life on the trails and conservation land, such as cyotes, fischer cats, etc. I hear the fischer cats can be nasty. To be honest- we had to get 6 "replacement chicks" after 2 weeks of having a first batch in our garage under the lights because one of our kids left a door open (we would never tell our kid that it was because of that!!) and our own labs got every single one!!! It was traumatic, thank God our kids were not home to see and my husband walked in to a scary sight. The labs did not eat them, but they are bird dogs, it was our own fault. We thought we could get chicks that looked just like our old chicks and told the kids the chicks were sick and had to visit the vet for an overnight- my husband took the kids to church the next day, as it was a Sunday, and I stayed home "sick"- we should have just spilled the beans to begin with!! Well, to make a long story short, there was no way I could find look-alike chicks because the store was sold out!! But...I did get a new batch of 6 and set up their new pen out in the garage with a lock on the door so the kids could not by accident leave it open for the dogs to have a romp. The kids were crying, it was awefull when we sat them down to tell them the first chicks were gone.....

Anyhow....I thought we would need to be extra vigilent and not allow free-ranging, but we saw these beautiful chickens free-ranging down the road on a neighbor's property and would drive by often and play guessing games if we would "see the girls" out and about. And we longed to let our girls out!! So...my daughter and I did let them out one day and we literally babysat them and followed them everywhere- when they got too close to the edges of the property, we would shoo them back. Then, when we realized we had things to do after 3 hours of just sitting and watching them- it was truly a sight to see! - we thought we could just get them back in- not so fast!! They took a liking to one of our large bushes and we just could not get them out!!! After about 2 hours, we caught all 6 and placed them safely back in their coop with attached run.

Then, I started researching on the backyard chickens forums and such, as well as stopped by that neighbor's house up the road (even though I didn't know them) and just knocked on their door to ask about their free-ranging. She put my mind at ease and confirmed all the things I read online that the chickens will instinctively go back to their coop to roost at dusk and all she has to do is shut the coop up for the night. Wow!!! That simple??? So....next morning, we let the girls out....took a deep breath and turned our backs and went about our day!! We came and went, and saw the beautiful sight of our girls roaming around free-ranging- I was hoping that they were eating all the ticks!! The first few evenings, some were in, some out right in front of the coop and we had to shoo some in and close them up, but only a few days at most! All of a sudden, my husband went out to get them all in, and there they were- all 6, lined up on their roosting bar!!! This has been about 3 weeks now, and we let them out in the morning, then like clockwork, at dusk-time every evening, there they are, all in a row roosting on their bar!!! We count each one, give each one a pat and a kiss, shut the door and say good-night.

I can't say that no harm will come to them, we live on conservation land with all kinds of things that would just love to catch a roaming chicken- but we have trained our labs to accept them at this point and the dogs will go crazy if a predator comes close. We love our "girls" and don't want to lose any of them. But....we just see how much they absolutely LOVE coming out and free-ranging and just at some point have to let go and do the very best we can to keep them safe

Hope this helps!

Fraley BackYard Homestead (in development!)

 

[Suzierd]

My problem is the Fox, and they will hunt during the day and they can wipe you out. I'm planning on getting a electric poultry netting fence to give them a large area. That should narrow it Down to hawks.

 

[slipshift]

We have 2 adult chickens that have the run of the yard and woods, they sleep in a juniper tree in our front yard. We bought some chicks that are a month old now. One got out of the pen and is doing fine for the past 2 days. Today another one joined her. I could have caught the second one but now the first one has company. The rest can join them if they are capable of flying over the 5 foot coop. We have 5 dogs that are always out so predators aren't a big problem but we do lose one occasionally. It's a trade-off, a little danger for a huge increase in the quality of life.

Jim

 

[Brandi Leigh]

I let my chickens free range after I get done with work and on the weekends, otherwise they have a very nice sized run that they spend the day in.

 

[cfrich]

We free range in the back yard. It's fenced in and at night they go in their coop and we close the door. Our only problem is that when we open the house on cooler days the chickens try to come in. NO CHICKENS IN THE HOUSE! is frequently shouted. They are unimpressed.

 

[Hayduke27]

NO CHICKENS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I turn my back for one minute, thinking I'm going to let some nice, cool, fresh air in through the back door...



And to think they used to be afraid of the house... I need a doggy gate now.