How to free range without fences or electrical wire UPDATED WITH PICS

[dogdollar]

In my limited experience, I have observed that if there is one place in your yard where you would prefer that the chickens didn't go....they will go directly to that spot immediately after you let them out. Also, if you have five chickens, and look out the door to check on them, you will always see exactly four. If there are ten, you will see nine, etc. I call this Dogdollar's Rule of One.
This all bothered me a great deal when I first started letting mine out. I stayed out with them, watched where they went, herded them where I wanted them to be....and got frustrated to no end when they wouldn't cooperate.
Now? Hah.
I clean the coop, service the feeders and waterers, then it's back in the house for me.....and let the chickens be chickens. Unless I hear a dog barking or car horns blasting or a bunch of hysterical chicken noises, they're on their own.

DD

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
yeah, i wish i hadn't culled so quick, But my rooster is very protective of his girls

All you need is a rooster that's good to his hens, watchful for predators and respectful of humans.
I enjoyed your pics. Your roo will take the lead as he matures more. Before then, the hens can give him a bad time. They didn't come up with the word "hen-pecked" for nothing.

he is good that way. he does seem possessive of one hen more than the others, Funny how she ends up being the more naive one, or maybe he knows that and protects her more. as far as being nice to me, he is learning. I have never seen him mount a hen but they are getting dirty somehow

I must of put the fear to him with my last encounter
thanks for the info

 

[phaethona]

lucky you! im in my first year of chicken raising, but mine have taught me a thing or two.
I'm sure I don't have as much room as you do, but I had my heart set on free ranging. we have 4 ft. chain link fencing around our yard and neighbors on all sides, all with dogs. my reds dont care one bit about leaving the yard, but my flighty birds hop it constantly(I've seen them fly before and I'm sure they'd find their way over an 8 ft. fence!) Generally they are great about sticking around, I think they know they shouldnt get too far away from the coop/food/water/etc. we have very few predators around here, but it sounds like a good roo will do the job in a more rural setting with more predators.

It was an experiment for us for sure, and in the end, they go wherever they please no matter what I do, but I've learned to adapt to their habits.
I've only had one night where I couldn't get a full head-count, that was last night. the MIA hen showed up this morning like nothing ever happened, she's my flightiest bird and I'm wondering if she's flying up into the tree at night. other than that, they've all come back to the coop every night by sunset since day 1 of outside life.

As for the garden, mine is gated(again, they could hop right in if they wanted) but they've only been in once and that was because I left the door wide open. It may depend on what you grow and what they're used to getting as treats. I grow a lot of greens and my girls wont go anywhere near greens right now because of the plentiful amount they get free ranging. that being said, a friend of mine with 16 hens had their entire crop of 200 brocoli plants completely demolished by their 16 hens.

If you use the search engine on the BYC forum there are a lot of very interesting pics and discussions about keeping them out of the garden.

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
Yeah, my husband warned me they would be in the compost pile in no time. I thought nothing of it and sure enough. they are used to eating scraps so go figure. I told DH not to feed them any of our green bean anymore

 

[phaethona]

Yeah, my husband warned me they would be in the compost pile in no time. I thought nothing of it and sure enough. they are used to eating scraps so go figure. I told DH not to feed them any of our green bean anymore

My garden's surrounded by hogwire fencing(its not a huge garden) and my back-up plan was to use the poultry netting they sell at lowe's, and angle it down from the top of the hogwire fencing(on the outside) to the ground at at least a 90 degree angle so that hopefully it would become too much trouble for them to bother trying to get in.
but one thing these chickens have taught me is that I'm not raising them, they're teaching me their tricks.

well good luck, I'm sure you'll find a good solution that works for them....I mean you

 

[laughaha]

Quote:
I use geese as LGG's (livestock guardian geese) and in 2 years I haven't ever had a hawk/eagle/osprey take one of my chickens. We have alot of these winged beauties around but they stay WAYYYYY away from the geese- I learned this trick from pigeon racers (they use decoys and move them around alot). I'm up to 5 geese right now and while I know they couldn't ever take on a pack of dogs or coyotes they have no problems with 1 40lb or less dog (which is the only dogs who have come up here after my chickens). We have coyotes but they don't run in packs on our hill and we have not had a problem with any coming off the hill/out of the woods. My biggest threat is raccoon families at night but my chooks get locked up at night and the geese are the alarm system for this.

 

[pattgal]

Update Day 2 of free ranging. I let them out at 6pm last night. they seem to prefer staying close to the house for now.
We have made our first encounter with the neighbors cat "Artic"
Our neighbors actually have 5 cats but this is the only one we ever see. Probably because he is the only male and ventures a bit farther than the females.
This cat is well fed and does not mouse (he was so fat this spring I thought it was pregnant). Except for yesterday that is. He came over and sat beside my oldest daughter who likes to pet him (as any two year old would) and completely ignored the chickens. I thought I had it made. not long after I see him crouched down with his tail wagging. like he was gonna pounce something in the ditch. He came out with mouse still moving in his mouth. then he sat down beside the chickens and ate it in front of them. So i thought he must be showing off for them or something? 10 minutes later my husband is yelling at him and chased him away for chasing a chicken. this morning he was back checking things out, while we were out so I don't know if he came for my daughter or if he was just checking on things
what do you think? was he just playing or was he out to lunch? I don't really trust him. I hosed him out of the yard yesterday but he is a cat after all and will do as he pleases. Any ideas on how I could break him out of this habit
I guess im really getting tired of this cat dictating my yard. we lost our cat two years ago and im not saying he did it but I did catch them fighting and ended up with a big vet bill and two weeks of nursing my favourite kitty

laughaha I love the idea of having geese as guard dogs,

I wish i had the room for a couple. (I am dead serious too I would totally do it) How do you tame them enough not to be scared of them yourself though. I had an encounter with a canada goose last spring with a trail of babies and we were outta there, that thing was crazy scary

Artic (wonder what he's thinking.......)

 

[laughaha]

Ummmmmm- those look a bit young to be freeranging on their own without supervision. My cats would have NO problem eating a few that sized if the geese and adult chickens would let them. May I suggest that you freerange for an hour before dark and you sit outside with a good book. Doesn't look like your chickens have any fear of the cat and they are within dinner size (for a cat). I would take an all or nothing attitude with the cat (especially if you think it may have killed yours). I would keep a couple squirt guns "loaded" and by the back door and the chicken coop and use them everytime I saw the cat tresspassing or everytime I saw the cat even looking at the chicks. Cats are very smart critters. Shouldn't take too long for it to get the message that they are YOUR chicks.

I love Archie!!!!! She is the one I raised from a gosling. She was completely puppy dog tame until DH messed with/butchered some of HER roos last year. Now she hates him but still likes me. The 4 that I got about a month or so ago are NOT friendly but NOT aggressive in the least- translate they always run away when I get near them. One of them is an eggeater (just saw it yesterday- thought at first it was one of the chickens) and volunteered itself to be christmas dinner if I can't fix the problem. Toulouse's are not mean critters (in my very limited experience) but I have heard that the Sebastapols (sp?) are about the tamest goose around. I think the trick is to raise the goslings yourself and with chickens. Archie adopted 9 chicks (not that they needed it- they already have 3 chicken mammas) and heaven help anything that gets near them. She does need a reminder once in a while that I'm allowed to hold/inspect the chicks. When she starts hissing at me (don't wait for a full on attack) I grab her bill and pick her up (like a football) and carry her around for 5 minutes or so and if she is behaving I put her down, if she is struggling then I hold her till she's been calm for a few minutes (to really let the dominance lesson sink in).

Yeah, ummmm, don't blame you from running away from a mamma canadian goose- I bet that was scary!!! Geese you raise yourself are COMPLETELY different IMHO.

 

[pattgal]

I know eh? im starting to think they are banties. they are 17 weeks old and squatting. I think i will get some bigger chickens to go in with the flock next spring
Anybody know what would look good crossed with a black EE? I want to make something big and pretty (colorful) maybe add a touch of aggressiveness for the neighbor's cat and I've got myself a breed of choice

laughaha: Do you by chance have any pics of your geese? I'd be curious to see what they look like

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
I forgot to ask, do your geese live with your chickens? If so do they eat the same feed?
I was thinking of getting some ducks in the spring as well because I heard they love slugs (we are borderline infested) but I heard geese are just as good for that.
If I could house them with the chickens (might need to enlarge the coop if they are gonna spend the winter) I would get some