Birds are out from 8 AM to dusk, whenever that is. I fill their feeder with layer pellets in the morning, let them get hungry until they get annoying, which is usually about three, then I feed them just enough to keep them from poking around the dog run too much. Their main foraging ground is the side yard, which is regular grass, or the woods, which varies in its type quite a bit. The area right to the front/left of the coop is leaf litter with deciduous growth as both scrub and tall trees, and their other favourite area (again, right by the coop, just on the other side) is a pine forest with moist soil, pine needles, and ample scratching opportunities. All that area and two other sides is good hawk cover, and they usually stay as close to it as possible, only venturing out when really hungry. Full birds will vanish for hours at a time. On the far left of the coop, past the pine area, is a road, which they rarely if ever cross due to somewhere around a dozen beagles that live on the other side, up a ways. Their barking makes the chickens worried, with good reason. Many of them are dog attack survivors. On the other side, about a hundred or more feet to the right and down a steep slope, is a stream. They never go there. Behind the coop is a clearing, again, where they don't go. Even if they wanted to they'd have to cross fencing, which cuts them off from the coop and makes them nervous. In front of the coop is sloped slightly towards the stream, except for the driveway and pool setup area where we had sand brought up from our sand pit to make it level. That has the effect of making a sort of basin-like 'safe area' where they can see the coop and be in close range of cover. They could go down into the backyard if they wanted, and they do sometimes, but to get there they have to go through a narrow (ish) corner adjacent to the dog run, which houses a very enthusiastic, very loud, very hungry dog. Having that between them and the coop makes them nervous, and understandably so.
My worries are that the chickens will stay in the corn or bean field for the time allowed out making it harder to round them up or to keep an eye on them. I won't let them free range all day though as I only have a handful - that would result in a big loss if a predator would happen by.
They do have a run attached to their coop.
I'm guessing. They ranged much farther when they lived at my neighbour's house, which was devoid of the edges found here. She had much the same feeding schedule as me, perhaps even more liberal.
I would keep them in the coop/run area for up to 4 weeks.
