Free Ranging: Animal happiness vs Risk of Loss

[cmom]

I let mine free range for years until one day they were massacred so that ended the free ranging. Some were able to fly over the fence but whatever killed them, chased them over the fence after killing the chickens inside the fencing.

And then I lost one to a fox during the middle of the day while I was home.
I'm moving, and at my next place, they will be contained inside an electric fence with lots of bushes to hide under should there be a hawk. My chickens are always up now if I am not at home.

Having a goat or other animal in with the chickens I believe helped prevent predators.

I had a coyote jump over a 5 foot fence into a pen before I covered the pens during the day. Many of the birds went over the fence to escape the coyote and the coyote went back over the fence to chase them. It was chasing the birds around through my back yard. I had some bird shot in my shotgun and shot it but didn't kill it and it ran off. Some birds died that day and some the next from injuries.

 

[hayley3]

I had a coyote jump over a 5 foot fence into a pen before I covered the pens during the day. Many of the birds went over the fence to escape the coyote and the coyote went back over the fence to chase them. It was chasing the birds around through my back yard. I had some bird shot in my shotgun and shot it but didn't kill it and it ran off. Some birds died that day and some the next from injuries.

That's why I want to do electric fencing next. I don't see coyotes but you never know when one will show up.

 

[cmom]

Now I have electric wire up around my coops and pens. This is my grow-out coop and the predators know the electric wire is there. It is also covered with netting and concrete under the gates.

 

[centrarchid]

No termites, some ants but I have been putting permethrin on the ant hills and they either moved or died. I put some on some carpenter ants I found in a wood pile and they are totally gone. Also we have fire ants or what I call piss ants. They hurt when they bite. They have been disappearing. I haven't seen any new mounds.

Looks like they ants formed super colonies based on your image.

 

[cmom]

That is an older picture. We planted some pecan trees that aren't showing up. It may be pocket gopher mounds. That is the area that we planted the pecan trees in. They were small trees then.

 

[cmom]

We do have a gopher trap and I have dug out some of the pocket gopher tunnels and when the gophers go to fill where I had dug out then I have shot them. They are everywhere and a nuisance. This one was caught in a trap.

 

[Aquatic_blue]

This is a great question. I have been pondering this, too. We have no predator issues at this time. The only animals I worry about are hawks. I figure if one figured out our chickens were free for the pickin' then we would be in trouble. Although, I have let them free range the yard some days while I am inside. Never when I am not home.

Most of the time we only do supervised free ranging to protect from the possibility of a predator. However, I like to let them run around throughout the day because they are much happier.

Chickens are nothing like toddlers. While it is our responsibility to protect our chickens, predators are naturally part of their life. Chickens are happy running in a large area all day because that is how they are naturally made to be. They are not children, they're animals. I suppose you could ask yourself what you would do in case of a predator. Would you prevent it before it started or be more careful if one or more are killed? Are your eggs or possibly meat birds so important for food that you can't afford a loss? Is there a way to make their free range safer?

 

[hayley3]

Your perspective changes when you come home and find your birds are ripped open and laying on the floor. You think it can never happen to you until it does.

 

[hayley3]

Now I have electric wire up around my coops and pens. This is my grow-out coop and the predators know the electric wire is there. It is also covered with netting and concrete under the gates.
View attachment 1954203 View attachment 1954205

That's a great night image cmom...what brand are you using there?

 

[harmonyp]

Op - this is the most difficult question I've had to deal with as a chicken parent. I'm currently on my second flock of chickens. My first I got to enjoy for a fabulous 6+ years. My little hens were just like kids - not much laying any longer, but they were pets. They had always been confined to a coop / run, and had about 100 sq ft per hen. After all those years, I finally started opening the run door and letting them wander about on our property (we have 10 acres). I think the few weeks they had little 1 hr wandering sessions were some of the most fun they ever had - they loved every second. But, on that last, fateful day, they were cleaned out in seconds by a pack of coyotes. It was so fast, there wasn't a sound. All that remained on the ground were some of their feathers.

After dealing with that heartbreak, their coop / run, despite not having grass, looks fantastic to me. I couldn't go through it again. I do my best to provide them as much enrichment that I can ... and keep them alive.