Some chickens forage farther away than others. Most stay close to home in the beginning. Some never go far. I'd worry less about where they'll go and more about what comes to visit.
Every area is different. Do you live in an area with coyotes or where people let their dogs run loose? During the day, I think the most common predators are dogs owned by neighbors, stray dogs, coyotes, foxes and hawks. Of course, you rarely see them on your property if you don't have anything tasty for them to eat. Once you have chickens, eventually they do tend to show up. If you have a dog, that can discourage some of them. For people with untrained dogs that have a strong prey drive, their own dogs are on the predator list.
One way to start free ranging is to have them out when you're there. That's the safest way to do it. If you don't mind the risk or think you have a low risk, then you could just leave the run door open every day. A dog is actually one of the worst predators, because they may kill an entire flock at once. The other predators usually just take one or two.
Every area is different. Do you live in an area with coyotes or where people let their dogs run loose? During the day, I think the most common predators are dogs owned by neighbors, stray dogs, coyotes, foxes and hawks. Of course, you rarely see them on your property if you don't have anything tasty for them to eat. Once you have chickens, eventually they do tend to show up. If you have a dog, that can discourage some of them. For people with untrained dogs that have a strong prey drive, their own dogs are on the predator list.
One way to start free ranging is to have them out when you're there. That's the safest way to do it. If you don't mind the risk or think you have a low risk, then you could just leave the run door open every day. A dog is actually one of the worst predators, because they may kill an entire flock at once. The other predators usually just take one or two.
