How Important is a Chicken Run if you Free Range all day?

[superdeluxe]

Honest question, How important is the run if you just free range all day?

When I wake up I go and let the girls out, at night, I go and lock the coop up, They haven't spent any time in their run in months.

 

[JackE]

As long as you don't have a stray dog, or a wild animal of some kind show up and kill everything, a run is not important at all. I got away with totally freeranging my chickens for almost a full year. Mistakenly thought everything was fine, predators only come around at night, and my birds were safely locked up at night. But then, in the middle of the afternoon one sunny day, a fox came and took/killed 9 out of 11. Then a few months later, came back and took/killed 7 more of my new pullets. A safe run is kinda important around here.

 

[superdeluxe]

As long as you don't have a stray dog, or a wild animal of some kind show up and kill everything, a run is not important at all. I got away with totally freeranging my chickens for almost a full year. Mistakenly thought everything was fine, predators only come around at night, and my birds were safely locked up at night. But then, in the middle of the afternoon one sunny day, a fox came and took/killed 9 out of 11. Then a few months later, came back and took/killed 7 more of my new pullets. A safe run is kinda important around here.

Thanks. Yeah, the only thing I've ever seen in our backyard is a house cat. Our dog leaves the ladies alone. I know we have Racoons, skunks, Possums around where we live, but they only come out at night from what I have seen. We had a Hawk try and grab a girl once last year, but we have a ton of trees, shrubs, picnic tables etc that the girls were all under cover VERY quickly. Another bonus is we have a ton of crows around, we used to hate it with all the cawwing, but they are like an early warning detection system, and I have seen more than once the crows chase off a hawk.

 

[JackE]

Yeah, we have crows around here too, and they do harass the hawks. Good to have around. Hopefully you'll have better luck than me, with your FREErangers. Wish I could just let mine wander around and do whatever their chicken brains wants them to do. Just can't get away with it here.

 

[suebee]

My silkies free range everyday but I have runs with smaller coops in them for breeding certain colors together and most importantly baby chicks. They can't free range until they're 3 months old. I've never had a predator get my free range silkies going on 11 years thanks to a very observant dog and pure luck.

 

[Coralietg]

We have a small run attached to the chicken coop. The chicken coop is 8' x 18', plenty of room for our 26 or so chickens. The run, is only 8' x 10' though. We free range all day, so they are only really in the run in the morning before we get up.

It's worth giving a thought to a run, if you take small trips away. We go away for 2-3 days twice a year, and with the run they can still get fresh air and be safely contained and protected from predators.

 

[superdeluxe]

Yeah we have a run, but we have our neighbors come over to feed/let the girls out/tuck the girls in, he gets free range eggs for his troubles.

 

[bobbi-j]

We free range, but we also have runs attached to our coops for a couple of reasons. One is the vacation issue - as Coralietg said, we can just leave them for a few days, yet they can get out and stretch their legs. Also, when I have young birds that aren't quite ready to free range because I have a few wild barn cats that hang around the place, they can still get out in the run. Last year my mom was doing chores for us while we were gone for a couple of weeks, and the day before we left for home, a coyote came through and took my rooster and some hens. Mom locked them in the coop/run for the rest of the time. If she hadn't, I may well have lost more chickens.

 

[suebee]

If you leave your coop door open so they can go into the run in the morning you're asking for trouble. Weasels can easily squeeze through and kill your chickens.