Free Ranging or No?

[Chicken_Guru]

I've made this so people could tell me ... Should I free range or not, My goal is to get the LEAST chicken deaths and the MOST eggs , Also I have a little rat dog that could kind of protect my chickens.

 

[The Moonshiner]

If those are your goals then definitely no free range.
Couldn't see that you would ever lose more in a secured coop and run then free ranging.

 

[centrarchid]

Do not free-range.

 

[Zoomie]

Nope. Keep them in a well-secured run and coop, that will minimize deaths and maximize eggs.

 

[Chicken_Guru]

Nope. Keep them in a well-secured run and coop, that will minimize deaths and maximize eggs.

But will the eggs be more ORGANIC?

 

[OC Chick]

The USDA's definition of Organic means that your chickens are fed an organic feed, have access to the outdoors, and are not kept in cages. A coop and run outdoors are not considered cages. You can do a google image search of a caged chicken and see the difference. Organic is not interchangeable with Pastured. Pastured chickens are literally that - chickens walking around in fields, naturally foraging for bugs and other food, and then return to roost at night in a coop. Organic Pastured eggs are the best and in my opinion taste amazing, but if you are concerned with the safety of your birds, or are limited in your space, there are things you can do to have as close to pastured eggs as possible.

 

[Chicken_Guru]

The USDA's definition of Organic means that your chickens are fed an organic feed, have access to the outdoors, and are not kept in cages. A coop and run outdoors are not considered cages. You can do a google image search of a caged chicken and see the difference. Organic is not interchangeable with Pastured. Pastured chickens are literally that - chickens walking around in fields, naturally foraging for bugs and other food, and then return to roost at night in a coop. Organic Pastured eggs are the best and in my opinion taste amazing, but if you are concerned with the safety of your birds, or are limited in your space, there are things you can do to have as close to pastured eggs as possible.

Ah... Thank you, I might try free ranging for a week and then keeping em in the run for a week and see how things come out!

 

[chickens really]

Free range only when your home...Birds do better when quality of life is considered...

 

[OC Chick]

It's been my experience that chickens become accustomed to whatever routine you set up for them, so seriously think about what that can consistently be for you - especially if you have neighbors and you are trying to keep noise down. I started with letting my girls range early in the morning for an hour before I left for work, keeping them in their run while I was at work, and then letting them range in the afternoon for a few hours when I got home. When I was on winter break, I let them range all day and found that the girls would still go back into their run even though they had the opportunity to be outside all day. My only complaint is that as the days grew longer during spring/summer, they woke up earlier and started squawking loudly to be let out at 5:00 AM instead of 6:00 AM. At this point they are free ranging all day as I am not following a routine during the summer, and I have faced the reality that I may lose one to a predator. If I were to do it over with a new batch of chicks, I would set up the routine to only have them range in the afternoon for four house when I'm home to ensure that they stay quiet in the mornings to not bother the neighbors. I don't have acres and acres for them to forage on, but I do my best to give the girls the best quality of life I can give them under the circumstances of being backyard chickens in a little suburban neighborhood and I think that is how most chicken owners operate. If I were to keep chickens in the coop & run all day, I would need to allow 20 square feet of space (double the recommended amount) per bird to make sure they had enough room, and to alleviate any backyard chicken guilt. As soon as you experience watching the pecking order, you will understand the need to give hens the bare minimum 10 square feet of space per bird, but in reality as much space as possible in your situation.

I feed the girls Scratch & Peck organic feed, organic veggie leftovers (kale, tomatoes, cucumbers), grow an amazing organic pasture blend in flats for the girls that I rotate, and order locally sourced fresh worms & crickets from RainbowMealworms.com, and all this equates to really happy, healthy chickens who look good and whose eggs are DELICIOUS! https://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chicken-forage-blend-irrigated.html

 

[chicks are life]

It really depends on space,neighbors and predators.

Ex: I can't free range unless I am literal of standing there if not swarm of Hawks come.

When my dad watched them once he decided to let them freerange unsupervised and then the hawks came killed 2 and chased the rest of my flock off
5 or so birds came back too the coop and the rest are lost and dead.

Its been 1.5 years since this so most likely dead.