I let them out....

[sherrydeanne]

My chicks (about 9 weeks old) have been in their coop and attached run for about a month. Today, I decided to let them wander around our yard. I have about an acre, but we're bordered on 2 sides by park. Their coop sits at the very back of my yard, just in the tree line. They had a BALL in the woods today, and even came back in at dusk. Score!

Here's the real question though; how far will they go? I know I'll need to put up an impromptu fence between me and the neighbors, but do I need to worry about them going the whole way to the road that's about 100 yards from the coop?

Any words of wisdom?

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I use to live on a 2 acre. lot and it was not fenced and my chickens roamed into the nieghboring field......but would stay close by and I never had a problem with them wandering to far and they always came back to the coop at night. Good luck to you!

 

[Mahonri]

Chickens will wander more than a quarter of a mile.

 

[lavandula girl]

I think the chicken's personality has something to do with it. We have a couple of homebody hens, who never get further that 50 yards from the run door, and then we have one hen who wants to answer "Why did the chicken cross the road?" with "Why shouldn't a hen stand in traffic?"

I would bet on them wandering all the way to the road, and then you won't be unpleasantly surprised.

 

[cmom]

All birds are different. Some may stick close to home and some tend to wander off. I keep mine in a fenced in yard. A neighborhood mutt dug under my fence and killed one of my hens. Now I have an electric wire around the outside of my fence. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[All about the EGG]

Beware of full grown corn fields...I almost lost a couple.