Free Range or Not? What Does Everyone Prefer?

[aoxa]

Had a scare last night (I free range exclusively) I was sure one of my best birds was taken by a predator.. Turns out she just decided to roost in the trees. I was so upset until we found her. Things like this are bound to happen if you free range. This was the first time we ever had a chicken try to roost outside of the coop. We have A LOT of woods, so it took 30 minutes and 3 people to find her. Little brat!

She was roosting on top of this overturned tree.

This is where they spend the majority of their day. They LOVE the woods surrounding the barn. After dinner they venture out front when the sun is not as strong.

My LGD in training (Clementine) watches their every move from her spacious kennel. We can not trust her fully with them yet. Eventually we will. Right now she barks like mad if anything is out of the ordinary. We left a turkey outside one night by accident, and she let us know something was wrong. She's like a car nagging you to put on your seatbelt. There's something special about free ranging to me. I can't imagine not doing it. I love looking out my window and seeing this in my garden:

 

[jak2002003]

What lovely photos in the above post!

For me free ranging or not is all dependant on the chicken owners situation. If there are lots of predators in your area, or other problems like busy roads, other peoples roosters, etc etc, then I would keep my chickens in a large run, and just let them out when I am there to watch them.

I am lucky as I don't have any serious predator issues and my house is in a quiet rural area. My chicken set up is perfect for them.

They have a large run where their food and water and other things are. Its not covered so they can fly in and out over the top. Most of the time they stay in the safety of the run, but when they see me about they fly out and come for treats. They wander about the garden and then go back in on their own. At night they sleep in 2 large metal dog crates with a tree branch as a roost in each. This keeps them safe from the main predator - nocturnal snakes.

 

[aoxa]

What lovely photos in the above post!

For me free ranging or not is all dependant on the chicken owners situation.  If there are lots of predators in your area, or other problems like busy roads, other peoples roosters, etc etc, then I would keep my chickens in a large run, and just let them out when I am there to watch them.

I am lucky as I don't have any serious predator issues and my house is in a quiet rural area.  My chicken set up is perfect for them.

They have a large run where their food and water and other things are.  Its not covered so they can fly in and out over the top.  Most of the time they stay in the safety of the run, but when they see me about they fly out and come for treats.  They wander about the garden and then go back in on their own.  At night they sleep in 2 large metal dog crates with a tree branch as a roost in each.   This keeps them safe from the main predator - nocturnal snakes.

Thank you

and yes I totally agree with you. If your area is prone to predators, do whatever you can to keep them safe. Fortunately that is not an issue for me. Can't think of many daytime predators other then BOP. The chickens are always aware of the flying things. We live 10 minutes from an airport, so they often signal and hide when a plane is overhead.

 

[chickenrun1020]

I only have a 1/2 acher lot the back of my house is woods two houses on the right and one on my left. I have a 5x5 hen house with a 16x16 run my 9 girls stayin most of the day. I let them out durring the evening hours from 7pm till they go to bed. they are much happier outside there run. I stay with them as they explore the yard because i dont want complaints from the neighbors or the neighborhood dogs and cats to get them. A few nights ago, my husband was outside with them and a hawk flew down into a bush and tackled one of my girls

luckly my husband leaped into action and ran after them he kicked the hawk until it let go of my girl.

im so greatful! My girls where terrified! they even let my husband carry them to safety...lol they never let us pick them up. needless to say I was hesitant to let them out again, but desided I wanted happy girls so I cont. to let them out like before only with more eyes to watch for danger.

 

[Going Quackers]

I prefer to free range that said I don't lol ... my chickens are too small, too many hawks, rogue cats.. so they have a pen, i would like to look into one of those electric poultry nets for next year but i'm not sure if they are truly effective at keeping out predators?

I used to free range my ducks till i lost two recently to what appears to have been a dog, so that got halted.

 

[aoxa]

I prefer to free range that said I don't lol ... my chickens are too small, too many hawks, rogue cats.. so they have a pen, i would like to look into one of those electric poultry nets for next year but i'm not sure if they are truly effective at keeping out predators?

I used to free range my ducks till i lost two recently to what appears to have been a dog, so that got halted.

Didn't stop a good friend of mine from having many of his birds eaten by a raccoon. It worked for dogs though.

 

[Going Quackers]

Had a scare last night (I free range exclusively) I was sure one of my best birds was taken by a predator.. Turns out she just decided to roost in the trees. I was so upset until we found her. Things like this are bound to happen if you free range. This was the first time we ever had a chicken try to roost outside of the coop. We have A LOT of woods, so it took 30 minutes and 3 people to find her. Little brat!

She was roosting on top of this overturned tree.

This is where they spend the majority of their day. They LOVE the woods surrounding the barn. After dinner they venture out front when the sun is not as strong.

My LGD in training (Clementine) watches their every move from her spacious kennel. We can not trust her fully with them yet. Eventually we will. Right now she barks like mad if anything is out of the ordinary. We left a turkey outside one night by accident, and she let us know something was wrong. She's like a car nagging you to put on your seatbelt.
There's something special about free ranging to me. I can't imagine not doing it. I love looking out my window and seeing this in my garden:

Those are lovely pictures! I miss my ducks foraging around.. but as you know from the duck forum, i had tragedy strike. I am surprised with all that wooded area you don't have any issues, our woods are set way back at the end of the property so my birds were just going through the main fields(always cut down) and the horses area.

 

[Going Quackers]

Didn't stop a good friend of mine from having many of his birds eaten by a raccoon. It worked for dogs though.

Oh how nice!

It would only be daytime... i would never dare leave them at night! I have wolves/coyotes here... and a few other top predators besides people with their wandering dogs

 

[Red Barn Farms]

We live in a huge valley and own a few acres of it presently. Happy to report other people in the county refer to the area we live in as "God's Country'. About 800 acres of the valley was purchased around 25 years ago by my step father. Most of it at that time was all forest and had to be cleared. Around 400 acres was cleared. Cattle then grazed on the cleared land for over 15 years. As old age approached along with retirement my step father decided to auction most of the land off in tracts. Today about 14 families live in what once contained a great many wild turkey, foxes, deer, bob cat, etc. One time I saw a young cub bear. Once, standing on my front porch I counted 78 wild turkey in the field in front of my house! With all the new families now living in the valley wild animals have all about vanished. It is sad knowing all the wild animals have been pushed up farther into the forested hills surrounding the valley but it's a good thing for all us who live in the valley and raise and free range our chickens.

Back then we had around 100 acres of land set aside for hay. As I'd cut and rake hay hawks would fly in looking for mice, young rabbits, bugs etc. They would swoop down and pick them up and carry them away. Now a days you are lucky to see an occasional hawk. I find this rather odd. Where have all the wild animals gone? I've noticed this big decline of wild animal population over the past few years in this area.

Again, as pointed out it does however create a good environment for those of use who raise chickens. Six of the twelve families who live in this valley raise chickens and only one has ever reported loosing a chicken to a predatory animal. The guilty 'chicken killer' turned out to be another neighbors young beagle pup! On a farm not far from the valley ( I can look out my kitchen window and see the barn) is a 'Purdue' chicken farmer with over 15, 000 chickens (hens and roosters) and he has not reported loosing a single chicken from a wild predator.



SO I have to say we are very lucky to be able to free range!


Chickens are creatures of habit and do not take well having these habits altered in any way. They like to stick to a daily routine. Once my flocks are let out of the barn each morning they eat breakfast (Starter/Grower) and then head to an overgrown bush located on the eastern side of our property where they spend their mornings under the bush. (water supplied in this location). As afternoon approaches they make their way to the rear of the property down to where a slow moving stream is located and stay under the trees because it's another covered shady area. Around 6 o'clock they venture back up towards the barn and peck and dig there. They have their last feeding of the day (again, Starter/Grower Feed) before night falls in which they go back into the barn to roost. Then the process begins again the next day, LOL. Creatures of habit!



Editing to add image: This is a google area image of the valley which most of the wild animals have vanished.

 

[Nicole01]

I prefer free range and so does my flock. Next spring we are fencing in over 3 of our 4 acres for the chickens with a chain link fence. This will keep the roaming dogs out and hopefully coyotes during the day, which is our main threat.

Our eggs taste better when they free range. I do sprout in the winter as a supplement, but it's not nearly the same as eating loads of grass, weeds, and bugs. Free ranging cuts down 1/2 of our feed costs as well.