free range

[Sunflowergirl]

At first they won't go real far from the coop, but they do get braver. They will definitely get into anything you hope they won't like flower beds and gardens. Mine just go back in about or just before dark. However, I can most always get them in any time.

When you feed, always shake the feed in the bucket and call "here chick, chick, chick" even if they are standing right there. That will get most of them pretty quick, but there is often a straggler, and while the others are pecking away, I will take a stick that I keep to extend my arm, and get the straggler between me and the gate. I walk toward the hen, and she will move away, if she trys to go in the wrong way, I tap the ground beside her and she will move toward the run. Usually they go right in.

While it is nice to let them out, and I do all the time. You are risking them, EVERYTHING likes to eat chicken.

MrsK

X2!!! In post #3 I said that I shake a plastic container of oats for them and they come running, except for the one who wants to be a straggler!

I do the "Here chick, chick, chick" call too. I have only let mine out 2 times and what MrsK says about them staying close to their run is true.

 

[ClunyCapull]

( first post on this forum)
I have 16 chickens with the oldest being born on march of this year.
They have a coop which received some retro fitted wheels. They now live in a fenced in dog yard. Roughly 60' x 40'. They come out of the coop in the morning, and tuck them selves in shortly before dusk.
I have just started, when I am home all day, to open the gate so they can get used to going out.
This they do not relish. I have to coax them out, and never have to chase them in (they won't stay out longer than an hour.
I am hoping this changes soon, because the primary reason they are here is bug control!
They are currently about 50 yards from the barn, I am going they will wander that far!

I considered them free range, but apparently they are just yarded.

 

[bug58]

Our girls stay outside in the yard most of the day. My husband typically opens the hen house in the morning and lets them out in their run, when I get up I go open the door and let them run around the yard all day. I keep the doors to the run open where they can go in and out whenever they want.

Many days they go lay between the corn and pole beans in the garden or under the tomato plants, or up underneath the hen house to stay in the shade. I keep small bowls or pans of water around the yard that they can drink whenever they need.

We have a couple hawks fly over around dusk so we tend to make sure they are all inside the run during that time with the door closed, the one day I didn't get a chance to get them in before dusk we lost one (that was earlier this week) and then when we first got them and were in the process of rebuilding the coop we had them in a little tractor that didn't have a top to it, and two day olds were eaten by a neighbors cat..my dog was going nuts inside the house wanting out..so I let her out, which is how I know it was the cat that got them..caught her in the act..my dog chased the cat away..and now, every night and various times throughout the day she goes outside and counts the chickens..she even helps round them up at night to get them back in the run.

 

[jjakaus]

First I only have 6. Mine don't really go anywhere, so it's easy to keep an eye on them. To get them back in, I either throw some raisins in the coop or go and gather them a few at a time.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Jjakaus do you let them out all day, or just for a short time? Mine got out this morning when a dog freaked them out. Fortunately no one got hurt!!! But, I have decided that my routine will be to let them out for a bit in the morning and a bit in the evening. Helps to slow one down for the Summer!!!

First I only have 6. Mine don't really go anywhere, so it's easy to keep an eye on them. To get them back in, I either throw some raisins in the coop or go and gather them a few at a time.

 

[weimlikeschicks]

Whatever it is called, if you are letting your chickens roam around in a large enough run or out in the yard during the day you're doing better than what you could buy in the super market. Mine have only been in their new coop.run for a few days, so they arent allowed out yet. I hope to let them range in the yard in the afternoons once they get acclimated to their new home. When they would be let out of the smaller coop they would always return at sundown.