How do you make free ranging successful???

[Alicat4244]

Ours are completely free range ...we live on 47 acres some pasture some woods we knew what we were risking when we decided to do this but they seem so much happier. Luckily in the year we've been chicken owners we've not lost one . We didn't let ours free range till they were 3 or 4 months old . Over all they stay close to home ,they dont stay in an open area and if they have to they run through the open field to get where they want or need to be . But typically they're close to their home or ours.

 

[Chris King]

My place is a mixture of pastures (some open, some wooded) and woods. The chickens avoid the woods, but they forage all day in both types of pastures. They particularly like foraging alongside the goats. As we have coyotes hereabouts, the entire property is fenced with wire mesh. I think that's the key to allowing my hens to be out on pasture all day. I do lose the occasional hen to hawks, but my hens are very good at taking cover in the wooded areas and in the barn whenever there's a hawk around. More often than not, the hawk who shops here goes away disappointed. I've also tuned my ear to the hawk's screeches and to the sounds my hens make when they're upset. As I work mostly at home, I've been able to run outside and scare away the hawk more than once.

I'm obsessive about locking the chickens up in the coop at night, as we have an abundance of raccoons. One even tore a hole in the chicken wire and got into the coop the other morning. Luckily, I heard the ruckus and ran outside before she could grab anyone. I've since reinforced the coop and stopped leaving food in there overnight (and, at the risk of 'oversharing', I've been collecting my pee and spreading it around the outside of the coop with a watering can for a few evenings in a row). That incident was a good reminder not to let my chickens out of the coop too early in the morning, as well as making sure they're all locked up in the coop by dusk.

When weighing whether to keep my hens fully enclosed in a pen with a mesh roof or let them be truly free ranging, I decided that I would accept some losses to predators for the sake of having the healthiest possible hens and the healthiest possible eggs. On balance, I'd prefer my hens to have the healthiest lifestyle I can give them, even if it means that some of them will be food for someone else. It's not for the faint of heart, though. It's tough losing them.