How far will chickens wander?

[pixiechic]

I'm curious about this too - have been thinking about letting my chickens free range inside a 1-acre fenced in area. The fence is not great, but would easily keep in chickens who aren't too interested in wandering. What does concern me is keeping predators out -- we have already lost one chicken to a predator at night. Even if I tuck free-rangers safely into their coop at night, how can we keep out hawks, neighbor's dogs, etc. during the day?

 

[Standard Hen]

My chickens go off into the woods, the frontyard, backyard, horse paddocks and stalls, they are all over the place but never really leave the property so to say and they really do not go far.
Their feed is in their pen and they are in and out of there all day too even though they free range. Nothing more calming then looking out and seeing all my chickens enjoying their day.

 

[BaronRenfrew]

HI:

I gave a lengthy answer to this before.

Check this link for a similiar query: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=41811

I find 99% of the time they stay within 100 yards of home and the other 1% will range to within sight of home which on the rolling hills of our farm was 500 yards.

 

[moms_pantry]

I find that the earlier that I let them out, the farther they will roam. After my DH burned the yard in March, they didn't find anything interesting in our yard so they crossed the street to the neighbors yard. I have been keeping them in the pen most days and only letting them out late in the evening to try and break them from crossing the street. Even though I am at the end of the road near a stop sign on a road with 35 mph speed limit, people drive much faster than that. Sometimes I wonder if they know there is a stop sign.

I have 3 roos and I have found that one of them likes to bring his hens next door to my in-laws house to get away from the other roos I suppose. Not a good idea. My father in law is not happy or impressed, however when we decided to reduce the number of roos (we had about 7) he made sure he let DH know not to get rid of the pretty one that comes over to his house.

 

[mooman]

I would also say about a 100 yrds. I also find that they tend to "follow me". Not rigidly mind you. It just seems like where ever I am working on the property they tend to show up and hang around even if it is further than they would normally go.

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Make sure chickens have easy access to hiding places (from hawks). My free-range hens run like heck and then dive under a huge spreading juniper bush in my yard if the rooster alerts them to a hawk. I don't have other predators, so I don't know that it would work for a fox or dog. But the prickliness of the juniper might help. The closer the danger, the further into the shrub branches the chickens hide. The only one I ever lost to a hawk was an 8 week old BO.

 

[chickenannie]

Yeah, I've heard one option is only let them out a couple of hours before dark, then maybe start doing it earlier, say in the late afternoon. That way they don't roam too far, have a bit of time outside, and walk themselves back in the pen to roost.

 

[spook]

My hens were free range until the neighbor called about a fox scouting for "KFC". He is hungry too, but I do not feel much like putting on the pot luck. Also, these girls are active! I looked the other day and noticed that something was moving in the muddy "organicly" rich area between myself and the other neighbor, looking closer out the window and I was out the door as they were looking into the culvert to possibly get to the other side of the road. (of course its a site if you knew me talking chicken, sipping, landing in the mud, tree branches slapping me and the occasional stone sliding in the mud. So, I visit my girls in the covered yard. We had a area that was 3' high plastic fence that you get from Home Depot or those type stores and this was plenty- this year I highly doubt it. Sad because they kept the lawn mowed, fertilized and the bugs, slugs and whatchamacallets that eat at our garden.
Unfortunately I'd put up a fence even if it was to keep the honest dogs out. Good luck!

 

[spook]

I should have written this in the last post, but I really have a stupid question! When I put the girls into the pen (14'x30' approx) I added 2 wagon loads of oak leaves not realizing that at some point there was plastic that was broken up, assuming I had most of it, I watched one of my hens eat a 1/2 cup dia sized peice! So far I watched and grabbed plastic as they tossed it, they act ok, the one hen that ate this seems ok today (yesterday she did this), is this going to harm them? Anyone had this type of problem? They found a sliver of glass, Frieda was was on the ball, grab and run, I won, but holy cow, they have everything they could want, scraps, greens, bread, Layena Pellets and water. Whatcha think? (being to cautious aren't I- people think I'm nuts cause I talk to my chickens, its refreshing to be in a place where others chat it up with their biddies!) Take care!

 

[Davaroo]

Chickens have been recorded as roaming the equivalent of one to one and a half square kilometers during a day of searching for food.
Some of the "tricks" for keeping them close outlined here sound pretty good. Include in them the feeding and watering of the birds outdoors, near the residence and include lots of overhead sheltering opportunities nearby. Chickens mostly wander for food - keep it close to keep them nearby.

Now for my ugly personal opinion.
Your whole issue revolves around the presence of preds and your fear for your flocks' safety because of them. May I suggest you face that fear head-on?

Shoot or trap out the preds. I am a proponent of not allowing them to get a foothold in the area. This simply means you're in charge and they gotta go.
These are persistent and adaptable predators and once they adapt to the presence of humans, they become unafraid of human activity. They also teach this behavior to their young. A buffet of chicken only exacerbates the problem.

But once they get on the short of the stick and start taking a beating by a peristent human, they begin to practice avoidance. They re-learn behaviors based on this avoidance and teach these to their young.

There is no foolproof predator deterrent, unfortunately. But taking the hard line with them goes a long way.