I have read that they will not go very far from the coop...but the opinion on "far" varies from 40ft. to 200 yards so I'm a bit more then a little confused.
Some days mine don't travel far. Yesterday they always stayed where I could see them if I was standing in front of their coop. Others day they go pretty far. I've found them as far as the southern property line, which is approx. 5 acres away.
In my experience, they go as far as natural boundaries (like ditches/streams, roads) and prefer to stay where there is a close place to hide (like under pine trees or bushes).
At first, mine didn't stray far from the coop at all. They just hung around going no farther than 15 or 20 feet away from it. Now they pretty much go where they want, with no regards for how far they stray from the coop. They all used to kind of stick together also and now they aren't doing that either. They just go where they want. Sometimes in two's or three's and sometimes by themselves (which worries me). I guess it just depends how much room they have to roam.
If I hadn't put up my perimeter fence on part of my acreage, I know at least two of mine would travel the neighborhood, LOL. Usually, the rest go maybe 300 ft from the coop.
Thank you for your promt replies, I feel much better about making their runs as large as I can (without waisting money or space).
When all I had were RSLs, they would wander north to the back fence of the horse paddocks -- a little less than 100 yards from the coop. To the south, they wouldn't wander quite so far -- only to the south side of the house -- and would usually stay close to the house when they were down that far. Occasionally if someone was at the playset they'd feel secure enough to go that far. Now that I have a larger flock that includes a roo, I frequently see them all wandering past the playset and strolling through the grass between the east and west fences. If I put some food, water, and shelter down there they'd probably explore the full 5 acres on a regular basis. Now they're stopping about 200' ft shy of the south property line.
