How often do you let your flock out?

[Mrs. K]

Do not replace your chicken wire, it will keep chickens and chicks in. But do reinforce it. I have mine reinforced with miscellaneous woven wire on the out side of the chicken wire. What I could find cheap.

I have a small coop, it is only for roosting and laying eggs. Works fine. Mine spend the day outside, sometimes in a run, sometimes free range. In my opinion you must shut your hens up very shortly after dark, I have lost many hens in the early evening, after dark. If I do not think I am going to be home before dark, I leave mine in the coop/run combination.

Put in a roost or an object that is off the ground so that there are multiple levels in your run, A large box will work. Also determine the direction of your prevailing wind, and block that off so they can get out of the wind, a plastic tote laid on it's side will work fine for three hens. Mine are outside in very very cold weather and do fine.

Also, if you have only 3 hens, which should keep you in more than enough eggs unless you have a large family, you need a smaller coop, so as to heat it with body heat, so don't worry about your coop size.

mrsK

 

[Morgan7782]

I have 5 hens and 2 coops. I also have two runs that are completely unused at this time. Around 7-8am I go out and let the chickens to free range in the yard which is a good sized urban lot (no acreage though) with a 6-7 foot wooden fence. I lock them up for the night around 8pm, after they have gone to bed.

I do leave them to run errands and such, and only recently started leaving the house while leaving all the girls outside. They are big enough and my yard is small enough that I could run outside in a quick hurry should a hawk arrive for lunch or something. Also, I have a TON of coverage with trees and such, plus a big dog who is outside most of the day.

Once or twice I have seen hawks fly overhead, usually the girls dive under the grape vines, and I will go out and wave my hands in the air and the hawk moves on after seeing that. I haven't lost a chicken to a wild predator yet.

The two runs are fine size for the chickens I have, but they enjoy the entire yard so much I hate to keep them penned up. Chickens were meant to forage over as much room as possible and I think that helps their health and happiness. When I own property (5 acres or so) I will still free range them throughout the day with the knowlage I may lose a few to predators, but with the happiness free ranging gives them I am willing to deal with that as it comes.

 

[lindseythefork]

Ours go out every day and free range unsupervised. Their coop is attached to their run so they hang out in there until we get up and open the door to the big yard.

 

[Woods_Woman]

I live in the city and have a flock of 5, if weather permits my girls are allowed to free range in my backyard. I have to be careful though for raccoon, I have seen them still out roaming in the A.M. around 8, and they come down from the trees in the evening before the sunsets. We are careful to not let them out to early, and to heard them in before nightfall.

 

[woodmort]

During the summer they are out in their yard whenever I get to them in the morning--generally after 8--then are locked up whenever they decide to go in at night--I feed, water and gather eggs at that time too. This is as long as someone is going to be home during the day, if not they stay in the coop. From about the end of October until late April I open the gate to the chicken yard and they have the run of the 7 acres--again as long as someone is home. The exception is during the winter when snow is deep, I don't both to open the pop door for them--not much sense in slogging through the snow twice a day when they don't want to go out anyway.

 

[3chimama]

We let ours out to free range everyday.

 

[crawfordmama]

I let mine out to free range everyday when I wake up. They go back in about a half-hour before sunset. I usually find them lining up at the door when they want to go back into the coop. I work form home, so this is no problem. If I'm going to be away for the day, they stay in the run until I get home. They're cranky, but much safer this way.

 

[Wyandotte34]

Mrs. K :

Do not replace your chicken wire, it will keep chickens and chicks in. But do reinforce it. I have mine reinforced with miscellaneous woven wire on the out side of the chicken wire. What I could find cheap.

I have a small coop, it is only for roosting and laying eggs. Works fine. Mine spend the day outside, sometimes in a run, sometimes free range. In my opinion you must shut your hens up very shortly after dark, I have lost many hens in the early evening, after dark. If I do not think I am going to be home before dark, I leave mine in the coop/run combination.

Put in a roost or an object that is off the ground so that there are multiple levels in your run, A large box will work. Also determine the direction of your prevailing wind, and block that off so they can get out of the wind, a plastic tote laid on it's side will work fine for three hens. Mine are outside in very very cold weather and do fine.

Also, if you have only 3 hens, which should keep you in more than enough eggs unless you have a large family, you need a smaller coop, so as to heat it with body heat, so don't worry about your coop size.

mrsK

Thanks for all the other replies everyone, I think this has generated the most responses of any post I have posted on any forum.

The above quoted post struck me because it is essentially what I plan to do (so thanks for the reassurance). Yes I plan on either buying some welded wire from Home Depot or scavenging on Craigslist, I also plan on adding more posts so the 1x1 are strong (the posts will be 2x4). And yes! I did build a perch in the run, and added some rocks to jump on and scratch around (and they are also adding more weight on top of the buried wire). Also, heat was a worry for us. Since we only have three hens, and it gets cold here in the winter, the coop cannot be much bigger. It is insulated, but most likely one window will have to be shut off to reduce drafts while the vents close to the roof will be left open to allow moist air to escape.​

 

[WhetzelMomma]

I was just going to say that Mrs. K had a really good reply... I truly think you'll be fine with only three hens, and the amount of room you have.

My first three did GREAT in a situation really similar to what you're doing.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Just make sure you put the wire on the outside of the posts--you're fencing predators out, not the chickens in--and use long, u-shaped, fence staples. I use 1-3/4" galvanized fence staples.