Free range: what's your definition?

[Germaine_11.20]

To the OP, I wouldn't call them free range. The area is a little too small and I would consider that a large run. That doesn't make it bad, it keeps them safe. Cage free, big run rangers

I let mine free range but I have the land to do it. I also have as Fattie put it coyote bait. I make sure I close them up each night now and so far haven't had any daytime casualties.

 

[newchickmom]

I consider mine "simi-free-range" .

I have close to 50 that live in a good-sized coop with a large run that they can come and go as they please. They also get to roam the 2-acre fenced yard, all they want, after I get home from work till they go to bed for the night.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Mine go in & out of the barn whenever they want & roam 1 1/2 fenced acres.

 

[exbiologist]

Just another definition for folks... "cage free" in the chicken business basically means 10,000 chickens on the ground, running around in their own filth in one huge cage the size of a barn. It doesn't mean they ever even see daylight.

But personally, I do not consider chickens in a run area to be "free ranging". To me, free range means the chicken can go where ever it pleases.

 

[wsmith]

So let me understand peoples opinions here.....

If the chickens can go wherever they want within a small urban or suburban backyard, they MAY be free range, but if they can go wherever they want within a "fenced off covered on top with mesh to protect them from hawks" area that is bigger than most "free range" back yards, then they are not considered "free range"?

Perhaps we need to standardize some definitions, at least within our BYC community.
Perhaps something like:
"Open Range" for unlimited non-fenced, unprotected wandering chickens, access to coop at night
"Free Range" for chickens who have free access to the outdoors, and perhaps a minimum run / protected "range" area, access to coop at night
"Pastured" could mean in a fenced chicken tractor with coop that gets moved around or a large run with grass etc that they have access to...
"Cage free"....I guess depending on one's thoughts, even a run could be considered a cage, but I'm pretty sure that means not living in a confined cage without access to open association with other chickens.....
"Coop" the structure in which the chickens stay at night, gennerally with a place for egg laying and gathering. Sometimes referred to as a hen house.
"Run" a fenced or protected area usually adjoining a coop which provides outdoor access for the chickens. an outdoor enclosure for the protection and control.

Thoughts?

 

[33yardbirds]

Cut loose at dawn, see them at dusk, no fences, 6 acres but 100's of acres of woods. They stay mostly within sight.

 

[alabamachick]

My girls' coop is in our quarter acre privacy fenced back yard. They are let out all day while we are at work. I even have 3 week old chicks running around out there with momma hen. We either herd them back in when we get home at 5 (so the poor doggies can go outside to play) or they go to bed by themselves around 7:30pm and I go out and close the coop up. BUT, I dont call that "free range", I would call that something like, limited lock up?

MY definition of "Free Range" is yard birds. Chickens you dont care whether they live or die, and are simply running amuck in the yard, and multiplying all willy nilly.

 

[Arielle]

Perhaps we need to standardize some definitions, at least within our BYC community.
Perhaps something like:

"Open Range" for unlimited non-fenced, unprotected wandering chickens, access to coop at night

"Free Range" for chickens who have free access to the outdoors, and perhaps a minimum run / protected "range" area, access to coop at night

"Pastured" could mean in a fenced chicken tractor with coop that gets moved around or a large run with grass etc that they have access to...

"Cage free"....I guess depending on one's thoughts, even a run could be considered a cage, but I'm pretty sure that means not living in a confined cage without access to open association with other chickens.....

"Coop" the structure in which the chickens stay at night, gennerally with a place for egg laying and gathering. Sometimes referred to as a hen house.

"Run" a fenced or protected area usually adjoining a coop which provides outdoor access for the chickens. an outdoor enclosure for the protection and control.

Thoughts?

Not sure where my girls fit in !

My girls are locked up in a coop at night, we check to make sure we have everyone! It's for their safety.

During the day my girls have an open top run when I need them in a safety zone; or they can cruise around the yard at will: they forage on grass lawn and my hostas ( darn them!), they scoot thru the metal gates into paddocks with horses, mostly surrounded with heavy guage horse fencing to protect the sheep from coyotes and the protect the horses from being stupid (young horses can be foolish). I have a fenced yard for the dogs who also act as protectors and keep coyotes away (mostly). Some areas are not fenced like my driveway which if the chickens cross over is another, say, 5 acres of fun: forest, gardens, leaves and boulders. So my chickens are: open range and free range and cage free and cooped and run and . . . .

Seriously, thanks wsmith, you are on the right track!!! Clear definitions for the commonly used terms are VERY helpful.

Bottomline, method of keeping poutry tells you little about the total care; a far ranging bird , perhaps hamburgs or dorkings, are not so happy with living in a tractor; whereas a BO living in a tractor then going in the house to sit on a lap while watching Scooby-do is her favorite thing. IMO, I'm learning what my own particular birds need to thrive and provide it. I have the limitations of many acres adjacent to a wooded preserve (read hunting and coyotes) and zillion dollar houses going in across the street. This poses different considerations than say city living situations. I guess I'm trying to say, one size doesn't fit all.

Rant over.

 

[centrarchid]

A definition list as above helps. I would also like to add that in a free range setting as I define it, not only do birds have total freedom of movement, they also get a significant portion of their nutrient intake coming from natural productivity of land. Even if birds can go anywhere they want, if all they do is consume feed from feeders, then arrangment in my eyes has more in common with feedlot.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That's pretty much my definition. I open the coops in the morning (though not at dawn, too many predators still around at dawn here), no fences except the fence around our house - the younger birds can squeeze into the yard, the older ones are too big to - 80 acres for them to roam. The two coops are outside the fenced yard. Most days they stay within sight of their coop. A couple of times I've found the older birds down by the pond, about 5 acres away, but they are easily called back. The younger birds explored the pond area one time. Locked up safe in their coops at night.

One coop has an auto. door opener, one does not.

I have no problem stating that my eggs are from free range hens.