Giving up on Free Ranging.... Baaahhhh!!!

[mkeawsh]

We had to give up free ranging due to predators. So we built them a huge run and only let them out to free range when we're outside doing yard work and can watch them. We have coyotes strolling through the yard in the middle of the day now that the chickens moved in, looking for a quick and easy meal. We lost our beloved rooster Charlotte to a coyote a few months ago. Sigh. Love letting them free range, but it's just not possible unless we want to get 50 chickens and assume regular losses. But that makes me too sad.

Used to have coyotes walking through in the middle of the day until we got our GP. Now we only hear them at night but don't get near with the Niteguards and Buddy.

 

[luvmyEs]

The one thing I hate about free-ranging is the fact that apparently the best place to take a dirt bath is right up against my house!!

I think that this spring I will try planting bushes there with mulch (I mean the holes there are deep enough to plant anything I desire) and fencing off the other part and planting veggies. The poop on the deck doesn't bother me because I just spray it off everyday, but Crocs make wonderful yard shoes!

 

[HomePickins]

The joys of free ranging chickens! I am glad I am not alone. You just aren't living unless you have to tell your visitors to watch where they walk on the sidewalks and porch. Life is good!!

 

[KayTee]

Free ranging - you would think that 1000m² of back garden, including a compost heap to dig in, borders to scratch in, a log pile with leaf mould and a million insects, a terrace to shelter and scratch around under, a wild bird feeder with all sorts of seeds that fall out, a purpose-built dust bath (and several that they've dug for themselves right by the wall of the house), and regular chicken treats would be more than enough for my 3 girls.
WRONG!

Although they don't fly over the fence (I've only got netting a couple of feet high keeping them in), Rusty has worked out how to scramble up the stone wall that divides us from next door's walnut orchard (not difficult as the wall is falling down all over the place), so that she can wander around the front garden (identical grass to the back garden, but without all the extras!) and then onto the road. Bad enough when she was alone in doing it, but she's starting to lead escape parties - the other day she and Blackie were both out near the road, digging around at the base of the wall, and yesterday I opened the front door and all 3 of them were stood there looking slightly guilty at being caught!

I work part-time, and can't bear to lock them in whilst I'm out (especially since this would require getting them back into the run at lunchtime when I only work afternoons). Their little faces at the fence and their plaintive cries are just too much for me!

Plus, the run is very small for them - it's really only for short term containment. I've kind of resigned myself to letting them go (they don't do it every day), and hoping for the best. I would rather lose a chicken that has led a happy free-ranging life than keep all three in conditions they're not so happy in.

Poo-patrol is just a daily chore when I clean out the coop - I only clear the terrace and the main areas where we walk in the garden. It takes a couple of minutes, but I don't mind because I keep thinking about all the good it's doing when I chuck it in my kitchen garden compost heap!