Free range unattended?

[Dottie Ferrell]

Hello all. I have 7 week old chickens that I just started letting free range this weekend. They are doing really well so far but I was wondering if you can leave them unattended while free ranging? My husband and I like to take the UTV out on the trails but not sure if it's ok to leave them out while we're gone? Do people who let their chickens free range run errands and just live life as usual with their chickens loose? Thanks!

I wouldn't leave them unattended. There are so many critters around (we live in a small town and have a double fenced yard). I have observed one of our neighbors chickens nabbed by a raccoon right in front of us when I was having a yard sale, and a lot of people around. Not only critters on the ground but there are hawks and eagles that are a threat, especially to young foul. Even town, we have a couple cougars that we see on our streets quite often. I know a lot of rural or farm chickens are free ranged all the time, but I think they take more of a chance of losing them more often. Good luck. Ours are spoiled pets as much as egg producers, and I cry each time one dies.

 

[Degalisto]

So you think they are still too young to free range?

I would say so.
My birds free range over 18 ac and in 6 yrs only 2 kills,..except my young chicks.
The coop is an old garage and they hung out by the big garage door. A small kestrel was just nailing them..got 4..I caught it in the act getting the 4th one. I let it have it..it was dead, so what the hay? The hawk wasn't much bigger than the babies.
I have babies right now. 12 Red Dorkings and expensive so I am even considering a run..for a short time or until they start hanging with the big chickens.
I do have 2 roosters right now. I did lose one a few years ago to a coyote( total of 7 killed.. this is the correct total)..the coyote muscled through a chain link fence gate....Rex put up a valiant fight protecting the rest.
I have 12 chickens 2 roosters and 12 one month old babies right now. No free range until bonded with full grown birds or I make a solid run for them.

 

[Miss El]

Hello all. I have 7 week old chickens that I just started letting free range this weekend. They are doing really well so far but I was wondering if you can leave them unattended while free ranging? My husband and I like to take the UTV out on the trails but not sure if it's ok to leave them out while we're gone? Do people who let their chickens free range run errands and just live life as usual with their chickens loose? Thanks!

What kind of predators are lurking about? If you have hawks, for example, a young chick is the perfect size snack. I have owls, hawks and eagles and they don’t hesitate to help themselves. I would suggest having a covered run while they are small, they are absolutely defenseless at that stage. It can be a very simple thing, I use a roll of chicken wire, some plastic stakes you push into the ground and a really inexpensive bird netting to lay over the top. It won’t be long before they are big enough to free range on their own. They grow up so fast…

 

[Dottie Ferrell]

So you think they are still too young to free range?

Is there any way you could create a smaller portable fencing or yard chicken tractor so you could let them have the benefit of the lawn or grass for an hour or two while you are doing something outside too, like tending your yard or something you intended to do anyway? If your girls are still that young, they don't need a very big area to get the benefit of a yard with bugs, worms, gravel etc. When our girls were young, my husband had them in our fenced garden area when he was tilling with shovel, and planting the garden. They became so tame, and loved to check out the shovel of turned dirt for goodies to eat. They got so funny as when he slowed down the shoveling, they would peck his boots for him to get busy and turn over the dirt faster. Chickens are so wonderful to know and I wouldn't want to put them in any more harm that they had to be in.

 

[Trellinius]

Hello all. I have 7 week old chickens that I just started letting free range this weekend. They are doing really well so far but I was wondering if you can leave them unattended while free ranging? My husband and I like to take the UTV out on the trails but not sure if it's ok to leave them out while we're gone? Do people who let their chickens free range run errands and just live life as usual with their chickens loose? Thanks!

I always free range my chickens because the main reason I have them is to control the tick population. I leave them out all day while at work. If I kept them in a pen they would only eat the ticks that wandered into the pen.... The eggs are a definite bonus, but not the main reason for having them.

Having said that, I just count on losing about 4-5 birds every year. Fox, hawks, other predators are definitely out there and will do their dirty deeds and having multiple roosters will help.

If you are emotionally attached to your birds or if you would rather spray chemicals on your property to control the ticks, then keep your chickens in a coop or pen. But if you are a more practical naturalist let them roam . . .

 

[Erineh]

Do they know their way around? Will they go back to the coop without you? Will they roost at dusk without you? Do they know where to run for safety? Will they run away and get lost trying to look for you? Are there older chickens around whose lead they can follow? What if it starts raining? If it were me, I would keep them locked up until you are certain they have the hang of things... I have a coop that opens up to a large pen. The fence is buried deep and we have a poultry net over it to keep owls and hawks out. We do also let our fully grown chickens out in the yard when we are home, since they have eaten all of the grass in the run. Still, we lose them to predators when they are in the yard unprotected in the spring. Spring is the worst -because all of the predators are hunting for food for their young. We usually keep our chickens locked up in the spring unless we are outside with them, and close by. Having a rooster is nice because he will sacrifice himself for the hens, but honestly, the predators just come back after they take the rooster out. So theres not that much of a difference...

 

[Laura Gardener]

Hello all. I have 7 week old chickens that I just started letting free range this weekend. They are doing really well so far but I was wondering if you can leave them unattended while free ranging? My husband and I like to take the UTV out on the trails but not sure if it's ok to leave them out while we're gone? Do people who let their chickens free range run errands and just live life as usual with their chickens loose? Thanks!

I sure wouldn't leave them out to free range any longer than 2 hours before sunset. Any predation that I've experienced has occurred after dark but I herd them back in as twilight approaches. Perhaps you can have a neighbor come over and herd them back in, with the allure of some corn, close them into their run, and then you return in time to shut them into their coop.

 

[rbregn]

Mine can go anywhere they please. In 8 years of chickens, we lost one because my wife accidentally left the coop door open overnight and a coon got one ( our favorite). We have an automatic door that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. The only other problem we had was the neighbors pheasant dog. It planned on impressing his dad with the big " pheasant he planned on bringing home . Poor girl didn't lay an egg for 2 years. Luckily it had a gentle mouth.
Our girls wouldn't like it any other way.

 

[Tilhana]

As others have said, you have to weigh the costs and benefits or find a middle ground that suits your life, your flock, and your particular situation.

For what it's worth, last year I let a group of 6 chicks free range during the day because they'd gotten used to it while with the broody hen that hatched them, and when she eventually went back to the flock, the chicks just would not stay in the run with her. By the end of fall, I'd lost 4 of them to predators. It's just so discouraging coming home and finding a clump of feathers and no sign of your favorite chick. And the last one that remained never really integrated well with the rest of the flock; he was picked on and even seemed a bit depressed for a little while after his last sister died.

The rest of the chicks from that year, I kept in a brooder at night and in a fenced run during the day. Once they were big enough, I integrated them with the rest of the flock, in a larger fenced run, and that seemed to work better. Out of 19, I only lost 1 or 2 to aerial predators when they were small. (I did lose several later in a single fox attack when they were nearly full-grown, when I was delayed getting home to put them in and it somehow got into the run, but that was a preventable freak occurrence.)

So for my chicks this year (which are still about 3 weeks old), I have portable fencing around an area that's got a lot of youngish trees, some large rocks, and a ton of brambles and low bushes. I figure the vegetation will help give them cover from hawks and owls until they're big enough to be less of a target. For the ground predators, we do get a fair amount of visits from foxes (or possibly just one fox), but they mostly happen in the fall. So my compromise for adult chickens is to keep them fenced in most of the day, and then let them out in the late afternoon so they can get an hour or two of free-ranging in before they go to sleep. In the fall, I start restricting that free-ranging time or even eliminating it if I think the foxes are starting to lurk.

The nice thing about this is that once the sun is fairly low in the sky, the chickens are less inclined to wander far from the coop. They tend to stick together and they return to the coop as it gets dark. We still get the occasional fox attack but by limiting their time to free range, I see fewer chickens wandering off on their own, or far from the coop, but they still get time to forage and explore. I also let them have a pretty large run, which I move a couple times a year to give the grass a chance to grow back, so they're not spending the rest of the day in a barren little dirt-cage; they're pretty comfy even if their territory is limited.

Good luck with your chicks, whatever you decide!

 

[raingarden]

We always have two or three laying hens in a coop. They are always confined and one is replaced every year.

There are also a lot of bantams. You could call them either free range or feral. We harvest a few poulet for the table and collect a few eggs when we find them. The neighbor's gardener helps himself as well. In winter there are usually at least five to ten hens, a dominant rooster and an heir-apparent rooster or two. Each hen will hatch five to thirteen chicks either once or twice each spring-summer. So, there are a lot of young running around. The losses are heavy until they are old enough to start roosting in the trees. If they are on the ground at night the mongoose takes many.

The bantams are allowed to fight over some whole kernal corn every afternoon. Other than that they take care of themself. I tell you, If I had to watch out for them during the day then they wouldn't be here. This system has worked for our family for as long as anyone can remember; The bantam flock came with the property seventy years ago.

They breed true to type, but we do not know what to call them. The roosters look like junglefowl and the hens look sort of like Catalana but with more black in the tail.