How you you let yours out to play?

[chicken_noob]

The wife, kids and I have recently caught chicken fever and we love it! We have 3 white rocks that are out in their pen at night and free range during the day. The others we have in a few seperate cages depending on their age and heat needs. As they get older and get a pen of their own, what would be the best way to give them free range time without having to worry about roaming and xbreeding with the others. We plan on having pens for each type of chicken. Thanks for your time and ideas.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
You can free range them seperately during the day in "shifts" or one group out free ranging while the others are in lockdown, then rotate to the next flock the next day etc...Use treats to lure them back into their pen.
Or, you can let them free range together and keep your roosters in lockdown to prevent cross breeding.
To prevent roaming, you'll have to be outside with them to babysit them, keep treats (like scratch) handy. If you have a rooster for that specific group, let him babysit the hens....that's his job as well as to protect them.

 

[southerndesert]

We have two separate populations and coops/runs (different ages) which is part of our strategy to always have a population laying even when raising a new flock, anyway as mentioned above we alternate days for free ranging. Our birds are out in the afternoons since they each have huge runs for daytime anyway so they really don't seem to mind a day off from free ranging to let the others get a turn. Besides when on an off day the girls on lock down get the best treats.