free range

[sampsel64]

How soon can chicks roam free? I don't have a fenced yard. My yard is three fourths of an acre.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Depends.
I have chicks hatched from brooders that free range from day one.
Sometimes I throw chicks out of brooders to free range at around 4 weeks.
Are these brooder raised chicks?
Weather has to be taken into account also.
Anyway you go on 3/4 an acre and no fencing or protection I don't see them surviving as chicks.

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

I would say about 3 weeks they can. The problem with free ranging at day one is predation. Crows will take a chick out in a heart beat. As long as they have protection from all sides they are good. But until they get big enough to fight off crows and hawks they need a some protection. (Chickshaw, electric poultry net, chicken tractor, etc.)

 

[mountain chicken]

the younger they are makes them easy prey for many animals ,
from what I read here somewhere 12 to 16 weeks is the prim time to free range , since you have a small property they will roam off into other yards , dogs and cats are another issue there just as bad as the wild animals . I would suggest at least a cheap chicken wire fence since you have a small property to avoid all the neighbors dogs and cats visiting your chickens or your chickens visiting them.

 

[BullMtnFords]

I've been free ranging for 7 years? This year I brought home 14 chicks Mid to end of March. By Late April, I had them in a 5X8 extension pen during the above 60 degree days. I live in S central Montana. By Mid May, I think....They were loose in the daytime, going into the pen at night, Where I shut them up. The E pen is still available but now, Like previous years, they're NOW roosting on the back porch, among the banana boxes full of kindling. A broom handle reaches across so they can roost, also. Keep them safe at night, but in the daytime, you should be good. Keep water, food out for them always.. They're learning how to forage... If someone starts cawing, Check THEM. Loose Dogs are the worst if there isn't fencing. Good Luck!!

 

[BullMtnFords]

Follow up: Just scored 3 free rooster chicks, supposedly hatched in May. THEY ARE SO CUTE!! Since they are so much younger than the girls, have them in the extension pen, becoming familiar with others. The Cranky adult hen is crabbing about newcomers...If the noisy old coot doesn't get back to laying, she's headed for a pot..
The 5 yr old that helped care for them named them Tom, Jerry and Moe. Moe has feathers on his feet, legs, Cochin? I have a wide assortment this year, Heaven only knows what may 'turn up' next Spring... A Larry and Curly Perhaps?