Free range: what's your definition?

[Taylor]

where they are free to roam as they please w/o any boundaries to stop them. mine are free range, but i still feed them good and they lay tremendous tasty eggs EVER!!!!!!!!

 

[Chick Charm]

The deffinition of "free range" is.......Chickens that are allowed to "range free" without the confinements of having to stay in a coop or hen house. HOW far they wander does not dictate if they are free rangers. Just as long as they get to range where they want to and not be limited by confines of coops/fencing ect. Of course, that is just my humble OPINION. What's yours? How elaborate do you need to get to define "free range" and how is anyones authority greater on the subject than a fellow BYC, life-long chicken breeder/raiser??

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
That depends upon where the fence is at. We keep 2500 hens on about 30,000 square feet of lush pasture with a 6' fence around it. I'm not talking lawn grasses, but good pasture grasses and legumes; meadow foxtail, clover, alfalfa, and plenty of broad leaf volunteers. They do not even come close to laying it bare. I'd still consider it free range.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/mgmccarty/Hens On Pasture/Hens052.jpg

mac in abilene,

Either your square footage is way low or number of chickens too high. I come up with just under 7/10 of an acre. Birds 2,500 birds on such as small area would trample greenery to death.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
For us the only thing beyond the fence is hay fields (as I said they have plenty already), our lawn, vegetable garden, or a paved road with a fair amount of traffic. I see no difference in what they can forage within or without the fence, except they would get in a lot more trouble.

The National Organic Standards Board has been trying to define "meaningful outdoor access" for layer hens and such terms are not easy to define. Regardless of fencing, I would expect quality and quantity of forage to come into play. If they can lay a majority of the area bare, there is not enough. If there is enough forage area to keep them from denuding it, then I'd consider that sufficient to qualify as "meaningful outdoor access" "pastured" or even "free range".

 

[centrarchid]

Chick Farm,

Definition above like used by USDA for chicken very difficult to distinguish from feed lot used for beef cattle. They can be / get outside but mobility as in how far greatly restricts feeding options. When I think free range, the idea of at least some natural forage supporting production is assumed.

 

[Laigaie]

If you're not fencing your birds AT ALL, we've gone beyond "free range" and into "allowing domestic animals to roam". If your chickens are able to walk into the road, you're being careless, reckless, and naive. Use your own judgement at the line between free range and cage-free. Personally, I use the term pastured, as my chickens have access to pasture any time they please, though they are fenced in. This way, idiots who think chickens should be running wild won't try to argue with me. You want completely "free" chickens? Accept that a good portion of them are food for your local wildlife, including the vultures who pick them up after they've been hit by cars.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Those are the correct numbers. They don't eat the whole area down. Like I said it's not exactly lawn grass, that area can probably produce better than 5 tons of forage during the growing season. I would feed them over 50 tons of layer ration during that time, so you could probably figure that the pasture could provide up to 10% of their diet, by weight. You can make out their fence line in this photo, the area that you see inside of the fence is about half of the area available to them.

 

[LoreenH]

Quote:
I would say if they are fenced in that that would not qualify for free range. My definition of free range would = no fence. How long do you think the plants and grass will last once they start their digging, dust baths, etc?



Definitions of free range:
Of, pertaining to, or produced by animals that are allowed to roam freely, rather than being confined indoors

Free range (or free roaming) implies that a meat or poultry product comes from an animal that was raised out of confinement or was free to roam.

In ranching, free-range livestock are permitted to roam without being fenced in, as opposed to fenced-in pastures. In many of the agriculture-based economies, free-range livestock are quite common

JMHO,
Jen

My chickens free-range the backyard most of the day.....the hostas had to be confined for their own safety....LOL!! One hosta disappeared to the ground in two days, luckily I managed to get the others moved be they disappeared. Had no idea 6 chickens could make a plant vanish so fast!! LOL!!

 

[Rainbow Dash]

Having sufficient space, both inside and out, and being able to scratch in the grass.

 

[Tala]

They used to free range on my entire yard. It's fenced though so technically they weren't "free" but they had plenty of room they weren't confined to a run. I had over 60 chickens at one point (lots of teenage chicks) and yet I still have grass. They were much less destructive when they had range of the entire yard as opposed to one area. Also they ranged with my dogs and were relatively safe even when I was gone. I generally used the term "pastured" when selling eggs.

Nowadays, they ARE confined to a run, and when I let them out to range it's really "free" range in the truest sense of the word, but I have to watch over them when I let them out. The last two times they were out unsupervised, there were losses. The last time was unintentional. I was supposed to be off work and had let them out for a few hours before dusk when I could be there, but I got called in to work. Lost a rooster that day without a trace, both him and one of his girls didn't come home to the coop, but the hen was found the next day. Never found a feather from him.