How far will true free ranged chickens go?

[chickendreams24]

95% free range. Only when the weather calls for the run do they stay locked up. I do not stress the predators due to guard dog who loves his buddies . Roughly 200 acres but they know where home is and stay close. So truly free ranged. Compost, black soldier flies that I recently started producing for them and fodder. Other then that it's all bugs.

Great to find someone else that wants them to do a lot of foraging.

We just started our BSFL compost bin and I can't wait to start produing enough for feeding to the flock. Unfortunately it will likely be cut short due to winter but we're looking into winterizing it.

Currently we are feeding a whole grain fermented feed ration to the adult flock and the juveniles and those in tractors are on appropriate feed for their ages.

Our flock includes but isn't limited to Buckeyes, English Orpingtons, Cream Legbars, EE, SS, BR, Dominique (we lost the last of them a couple weeks ago- amazing foragers and fliers fox too fast), silkies, oegb, Brahma etc you name it we likely have, had or want to try it. LOL just about every year we try another breed or so. Our barred rocks are hatchery I'm not going to lie I don't care for them much.

Many people say silkies can't free range. Ridiculous. Some of my silkies are among my best flock foragers. Dh2B calls them worthless chickens but when a mouse ran out from under the quail tractor and an EE lost sight of it it was one of my silkie roosters that caught and ate it. Yes they may need a haircut but we've only lost 4 silkies to predators and one was a rooster that sacrificed himself. It sounds like a lot but it's not. I bet we've lost 40+ birds to predators in three years easily. I know it. We lost over 28 last year alone(most of those to the mink and rats before we figure out what it was). We seldom clip a silkie's crest feathers. It's true some of my silkies don't range as far but I do often see them in the closer parts of the field or farther away accompanied by a rooster or two. Silkies are hilarious after slogging through a muddy spring field.

In the future when we live in a place we are able I'm sure we'll have a LGD.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

To make sense of the variation between flocks the following need to be considered. How long are the birds out, how and what they are supplied in the form of a complete or complete diet, dispersal of forage patches, and cover availability. Otherwise this will be a thread that does little to provide understanding.

In my case:

- They are let out indefinitely. Or, in many cases they are of course lured back into the pen after a short period. But most days they are let out sometime between 6AM and 11AM, and allowed to roam until they voluntarily go to bed. There are even cases where we have forgotten to lock them up at night.

- They are given unlimited access to layer feed, water and crumbled sea shells in the pen/coop.

- The yard has lawn of some hundred by a hundred feet and is surrounded by woods on all sides, with a lightly trafficked path going right by the house.

- The temperature outside is in the hundreds in the summer, but freezing in winter.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Mine travel pretty far, 300-500 feet away, but they do look for cover, and stay close to it. In a cornfield you birds will probably travel far, because it provides good cover, though they may still not travel too far as they seem not to want to get too far away from their coop. Your new rooster will hopefully keep an eye out. My roosters will round up hens when necessary.

That's what I am worried about - that the field provides too much cover. They are probably better at orienting themselves in a corn field better than I am though.
It won't be long and the barrier of corn will be gone! It will be easier to keep track of them.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I just read through the thread and didn’t notice (but may have missed it) do you have all the same breed of chicken? some breeds go further than others. And some birds just like to go further regardless. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I had just six birds one year that ranged the furthest of all the flocks... er... small groups of chickens I’ve had. I never SAW them cross the road but they easily went 400-500 feet from the barn. (Cooped at night, out in the day, free choice layer feed available).

I rehomed the chicken (it was a white leghorn) I felt was leading them that far and right away the group changed and they rarely left the barn, we had to shoo them out.

Currently I’ve got 8 laying hens and 9 3-wk old chicks (not integrated yet) and they rarely go more than 150-200 feet from their coop, virtually staying inside the horse paddock (1/2 acre) all day. Their coop is attached to a small horse barn structure with ample shade and activities to keep them close I suppose, as well as the protection of the horses.

I have several breeds that are known to like to range in the brooder, so we will see what happens as I’m about to have a 10+ flock, too.

Ooh, then you will be a real flock owner! Mine are a mix of breeds, but the majority are Isa Browns. I see lots of farms that have them on their property, but not sure how far they go. The ones I see are always in a barrier of types - horse paddock, cow pasture, etc - nothing in the realms of byc security though. But, it must be enough security where they don't go too far from their starting point as they always seem to be inside the fencing with 1 or 2 stragglers near the road.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

We are adding more cover for the flock via rose bushes, hydrangeas, another lilac, grapes, raspberries, a cherry, a couple apples, blackberries, blueberries, etc. Nearly the entire front yard is covered by maples the side and middle yard are bare. The barnyard/lot is also bare except for the weeds we are fighting but the plan is for that to be torn out and eventually become tillable. There is a large pine tree that provides good cover and forage on the far Southeast corner of the yard. Directly west of that is our main fenced garden and rhubarb patch. There are a number of outbuildings the birds can go into for cover, although they are in the works for removal and some are in the process of being torn down/salvage

That's what I will be doing- adding more bushes and such for them to take cover.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's what I am worried about - that the field provides too much cover. They are probably better at orienting themselves in a corn field better than I am though.
It won't be long and the barrier of corn will be gone! It will be easier to keep track of them.

The better the cover the more adventurous mine become. This past weekend a hawk was after some of my birds, second time in 10 years. My birds stuck to the tree cover, and the hawk wasn't successful. I think it was a young hawk by the way it was acting, generally hawks don't bother my birds.

My roosters have gone into high alert, and birds are hugging their cover. I'm glad to see they are smart enough to handle themselves. I have no pen to put them in, so either we deal with predators or we accept a few losses.

A cornfield would make me slightly nervous too. Predators can hide in there, and snatch birds. Once it's cut your birds will be able to see what's coming better. We try to keep our pasture cut back so birds can see if anything is coming. Tall grass close to the shed is a dangerous thing.

 

[jolenesdad]

How long is the border of the corn field? Could you put a temporary electric fence up during corn growing season?

 

[Evelyn's Mom]

If you get them accustomed to a certain sound that is associated with treats, no wrangling necessary. Mine get a (small) daily treat of mealworms and sunflower seeds that I give them out of a blue tumbler cup. I always shake it to get their attention. When mine are out grazing and I want them back in, I shake that cup and within seconds the whole flock bee lines for the run, running over each other and flying into fences, just pure chaos trying to get to that cup! Makes getting them back in easy peasy!

Same here, but it's oats and herbs!! Too fun!!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

How long is the border of the corn field? Could you put a temporary electric fence up during corn growing season?

I don't think that is an option. But, harvest time is just around the corner.

 

[TheLittleFarm18]

We are on an unfenced farm, 80 acers. My in laws live "next door" and wish my chickens would come visit lol they stay pretty close to the house and never have I seen them in the road. This is our first spring/summer so time will tell. I'll be interested to see how far they will travel into the corn fields after harvest, they only go two rows in with the corn up now.