"free ranging" around the yard?

[dainerra]

My babies have been outside since around 2 weeks old. High in 80s, lows in the 50s when they were moved outside.

They've been free-ranging and putting themselves away from the second day outside. That wasn't on purpose - they got out. Since they put themselves away, I decided to continue to letting them free-range. I do occasionally lose birds to predators, but I provide plenty of hiding places. The main loss is from roaming dogs. I've never lost a bird to hawks - again because they have plenty of area to get away from flying predators. Nights, the birds are locked in the secure coop.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Starting at 4 weeks of age my peeps went out in a pen during the day (temps 60 - 90). Then they come inside in the air-conditioned house at night (65-70). They are 5 weeks old now and have had no heat lamp for a week. They are almost fully feathered.

I took the heat lamp away at night when they started sleeping on the opposite side of the cage from the light. I will put them in a small pen in the big chicken house at 6-7 weeks with no heat lamp. I will wait for the temps to always be above 50 at night.

I let my big chickens free range when I am not here...but there is a fence around their area. And they have a blackberry thicket that is a pretty good hideout from any dog who jumps the fence! I would never leave my tiny babies outside alone though, even in their pen, when I am not here.....too many things eat chicken! When I put my babies out with the big peeps last year (at 7 weeks) I actually had turkey vultures swooping low over the free range area checking them out. They have never bothered the big chickens but I guess the small ones looked yummy. My neighbor sprayed the vultures with the hose and they didn't come back.

 

[frostbite]

True confessions, jahphotogal, I've only really had chickens for 4 weeks (almost) I've just been planning them for over a year! But I've gleaned wisdom from this forum, from a couple of good chicken references, and some other Fairbanks chickeners more experienced than I.

My 8' by 4' coop is insulated. There is an electrical outlet and a switched light inside the door. In the winter, the shelter and their downy coats will keep them warm, until it gets to 20 below, and then I'll plug in my heat lamp at night for extra warmth, and switch on the 250 watt light during the day. I have a heated waterer that I'll use in the winter when it gets below freezing.

My run is about 12' by 12', with good access underneath the coop itself, so they can get shelter from rain even outside the coop. I have 2x4 welded wire fence; the bottom 12-18 inches is reinforced with hardware cloth (hardly cloth!!!) which is folded out and away from the run and backfilled with dirt, to inhibit digging under the fence. The top is covered with poultry netting, stitched together with plastic ties, to protect from the overhead predators. The only predator left in these parts that can get in would be small weasels, which hopefully the cat, the dogs, the traffic, and the rooster (eventually) can deter, and the bears (I'll just be SOL if they come around.)

As far as extra heat for the chicks at four weeks, when it gets down below 50 degrees, especially if it's breezy, I'm adding a little heat with my heat lamp. right now it's about 48 degrees and overcast, with a little rain, so the heat lamp is on, but it's a good 5 feet above the floor of the coop. At this age, they're pretty well feathered, and they seem quite happy.

I've tried to invite them out into the run, but they're pretty timid still. They were afraid of their first slice of watermelon; they were hilarious trying to sneak up on it. (It's gone now, eaten to the point of harmlessness.) They perch on the sill, and look out in chicken amazement at the big bad world out there. Starting this weekend, when it's sunnier, I'm going to leave the chicken door open during the day (well, part of the day, "day" here lasts from about 3:00am till 11:00pm, so I'll probably open the door at 9am and close up at 5pm, when I'm home)

I will stop adding any heat at all after this weekend, until sometime this winter when it hits the 20 below mark.

The other trick up my sleeve is 2" foam insulation. My eaves are open with hardware cloth screening, and I have a 12" by 4" vent screen at floor level in the man door, and a 10"x10" vent screen in the chicken door. I have various inserts that I can add to the eaves and the floor vents, as few or as many as I need, to fine tune the ventilation vs draft issue.

The breeds I picked are all reputed to be pretty cold hardy, and there are lots of birds up here that winter over, ravens, chickadees, ptarmigans and spruce hens, and even one pair of bald eagles that hang out all winter because of the availability of ducks who winter over on the open stretches of the Chena River. These birds all have no coop, no solicitous owner to provide them feed and water, and they seem to do okay. There was even an escaped ring necked pheasant that was spotted last winter, looking fat and healthy after a week long 40 below zero cold snap.

That, and the fact that I have friends whose poultry seem to do just fine, makes me feel pretty confident that my flock will thrive.

Of course, I had to take up mealworm farming in order to have a winter long (about 7 months of bug free time) supply of live protein for them. I'm starting to feel like a genuine rancher!!

 

[Panth]

My babies have been outside since around 2 weeks old. High in 80s, lows in the 50s when they were moved outside.

They've been free-ranging and putting themselves away from the second day outside. That wasn't on purpose - they got out. Since they put themselves away, I decided to continue to letting them free-range. I do occasionally lose birds to predators, but I provide plenty of hiding places. The main loss is from roaming dogs. I've never lost a bird to hawks - again because they have plenty of area to get away from flying predators. Nights, the birds are locked in the secure coop.

I agree with Dain, mine go outside into an inclosed run attached to the coop at week 3, and go completely free range about week 5. This gives them time to get used to where to head back to at night. I leave a heat lamp on in the coop more for a night light than for heat. I have never lost any of my chickens to hawks as I have plenty of heavy brush around for them to duck under. At nights they are secured in the coop.

PS: have to add this pic of my cat after reading some of the posts here:

She was thrilled that I brought in grass for HER, and couldn't quite understand why I put it behind wire where she had to deal with chicks cuddling under her belly while she ate HER grass!! LOL