How far will true free ranged chickens go?

[Cluckerzfamilyfarm]

Maybe over time mine will venture further. Just shy of 200 acres but if the coop is not visible they will not go. The coop was behind my house at first. So they stayed back there. No fence or anything. Then I moved the coop to the front by the crop fields hoping they would catch more bugs from the fields. No I'm not worried about chemicals on the bugs just so everyone knows anyway, now they no longer go behind the house and only stay where the coop is visible..... put coop in/on wood line?

 

[dalasgalas]

My "Free Range" chickens live on about 1/10 of an acre. I have a corner lot on a busy city street and they can easily hop the chain linked fence. Occasionally they will hop the fence to forage in the front yard, but hop back into the back yard by days end. They stay on the sidewalk and confined to the small property line. I have no idea how they know where the property line ends but they never wander into the neighbors yard. It's like they have an invisible map in their chicken heads.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Maybe over time mine will venture further. Just shy of 200 acres but if the coop is not visible they will not go. The coop was behind my house at first. So they stayed back there. No fence or anything. Then I moved the coop to the front by the crop fields hoping they would catch more bugs from the fields. No I'm not worried about chemicals on the bugs just so everyone knows anyway, now they no longer go behind the house and only stay where the coop is visible..... put coop in/on wood line?

I wonder if they have seen a predator somewhere that they are staying away from?
Maybe utilize a tractor coop to encourage them to forage in other areas?

 

[Cluckerzfamilyfarm]

I will try that. We do have eagles and hawks that fly above but our dogs keep them up high

 

[wobit]

Last time my flock was spending hours each day out and about:

1) Birds: mixed flock including Leghorns, Sex Links, Barred Rocks, an Andalusion, a Light Brahma.
2) Feed: a feeder in the coop was always full of pellet layer feed at all times. Flock trained to come in for kitchen scraps. Nobody was ever hungry.
3) Environment: we are surrounded in every direction by 10s to hundreds of acres of forest that is 60-100+ years old, with all the predators (hawks, fox, bobcat, coyote, bear, raccoon, weasel, snakes), wild forage. No cultivated forage.

When we had two Roos, which were leghorns, they would take the girls deep into the old forest, or the other side of the house. 10s to hundreds of yards from the house. They clearly worked together as a team to scout ahead and round the girls up to keep them together. While we had boys we had no losses, once the boys became aggressive to my kids and ended up in the soup pot we had lots of losses. So we fenced them.

Now we have young cockerels and I have hopes of ranging them again.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

My chickens are cooped for now due to fox, but when they free ranged they never went past the pond or other areas that larger predators could be. They only traveled so far in each direction from the barn (home base) and it was not far at all. I would say 70 ft they went max. As dusk came closer they would also find their way closer and closer to the barn prior to dark. If I whistled a specific tune they would come running. They always returned and put themselves to bed.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My chickens are cooped for now due to fox, but when they free ranged they never went past the pond or other areas that larger predators could be. They only traveled so far in each direction from the barn (home base) and it was not far at all. I would say 70 ft they went max. As dusk came closer they would also find their way closer and closer to the barn prior to dark. If I whistled a specific tune they would come running. They always returned and put themselves to bed.

Well and good but the question was "HOW FAR WILL TRUE FREE RANGE CHICKENS GO?"

I consider the words TRUE FREE RANGE as meaning chickens that are never cooped, never fed (except perhaps for a few table scraps) or chickens that are lucky enough to forage all day while standing between the rear legs of the homestead's milk cow.

Chickens like humans are quite lazy and chickens will never go further or work harder than the minimum required to keep themselves fed.

 

[AudieWarren]

We have 4 acres fenced for the chickens... Do they stay in it? Most do. The others make thier way to the house which is a few acres away.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Well and good but the question was "HOW FAR WILL TRUE FREE RANGE CHICKENS GO?"

I consider the words TRUE FREE RANGE as meaning chickens that are never cooped, never fed (except perhaps for a few table scraps) or chickens that are lucky enough to forage all day while standing between the rear legs of the homestead's milk cow.

Chickens like humans are quite lazy and chickens will never go further or work harder than the minimum required to keep themselves fed.

Interesting. I was only thinking in terms of no barriers to keep them contained while in the yard as you can tell by my first post. I didn't think in the terms you classified true free ranging.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

We have 4 acres fenced for the chickens... Do they stay in it? Most do. The others make thier way to the house which is a few acres away.

How many acres in total and what type of fencing?