Is free range safe?

[doublecrossranch]

Hardly a night goes by when I don't see a predator on at least one of my cameras, mostly coyotes. My chick/grow-out coop.
View attachment 1903329

What camera are you using?

 

[doublecrossranch]

My chickens go to the edge of the woods during the day to cool off and it scared me every day. But they love it.

 

[NHMountainMan]

I'm new to chickens. Very experience with big dogs. Volunteered with rescues in evaluating placement. There are a lot great dogs available at rescue to consider. But you'll need to evaluate prey drive. With a broadly mixed "mutt" (which I guess is almost a cuss word now!), instinct might not match appearance.
I will add that pyrs are not fans of hot weather. I've had 2 Swiss mtn dog / great pyr mixes. 1 was short haired and handled hot and cold weather; one was long haired like a pyr and hated the heat (that's NH heat - not southern summer heat)
I just lost the older one (my avatar) and I'm looking too.
Both were natural guardians, and I was their livestock. Got into a tussle with a black bear, and stared down a moose and stayed between us and the moose until we were able to snowshoe away.
If you're considering a pup - see if you can bring some to meet the chickens. You'll know just by watching who thinks they're prey and who only wants to pay attention to you. You'll want the one watching you. You'll establish the territory. (And yes - get a fence).
And then train - watch and correct.
Good luck

 

[BigBlueHen53]

When I was training dogs (basic obdience for my local college's community classes), my students were pleased when I referrred to mixed breed dogs as "Great American Random-Breds" rather than mutts. After all, most humans are pretty much genetic mixes, too, right?

 

[Critternc]

I want my chickens happy. I free range when I get home from work. I lost one pullet out of run to hawk so I covered run. Big risk free ranging but it makes them so happy. At night they are locked in coop which is a van.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I free range all day every day on my 40 acre farm in north Florida. I’m surrounded by about a thousand acres of woods. Bobcats, coyotes, alligators, otters, and bears frequent my property. Large snakes and hawks are also common.

I haven’t lost the first chicken yet for the entire summer I’ve been free ranging. My free range flock is 25 birds. 12 large layers and 13 Cracker games. They have access to the entire property but they stay within 75 yards if the coop most of the time. I have lost guineas but only when they weren’t put up at night and they roosted on the ground.

I credit the low predator activity around my birds to my two free range dogs that patrol the areas the chickens frequent. I have also observed the chickens of doing a good job of hiding from hawks when they fly over.

At night the chickens go to a coop and run where the coop has a concrete floor and high roosts. I lock them in the coop and activate electric wires that run around the shed and the run.

 

[tuesdaylove]

A lot of it depends on the predator population in your area. Some people can free-range their chickens daily and have almost no losses. Where I live is so predator-heavy that I can't free-range my birds for even a few hours without losing one. We have bobcats, coyotes, foxes, stray dogs, feral cats, weasels, raccoons, hawks, eagles... No free-ranging is ever totally safe. I think it's up to each chicken owner to decide if you want to invest the time and money it takes to give your chickens an enriching environment if you don't free-range, or to decide if you're willing to take the losses to let them explore.

 

[FortCluck]

I have my hens, pullets, and roosters in a 4,000+ SQ FT area that's fenced with deer fencing (it's to keep out the neighbors dogs). We had a hawk attack, but the pullet got away and survived. We had a Raven steal a baby chick as I was coming down the driveway. We had a black snake attack in the yard, the chick died (usually black snakes don't attack chickens but they do eat their eggs, there are some exceptions though). We had a copperhead in the yard a few weeks ago, it was removed from the free ranging area. NOTHING has gone into our coops at night! We put line up to keep hawks at bay, we patrol around looking for the snakes every morning, noon, and night... Free ranging chickens are the happiest chickens ever and I wouldn't change our free range area even after the losses we've had. I have learned it's part of the farming process from other farmers in the area. We have free ranged without fencing and lost 4 pullets in no time because of dogs that roam the area. I don't think we will ever free range without some sort of fencing, but we never enclose our chickens in a small run due to stories we've heard from others about their experience with it.

 

[Shezadandy]

I'm worried about trees falling onto them or hawks swooping in or other animals getting over the fence. I plan to attach a 1-2' hardware cloth skirt all around and build it about 6 ft tall.
Or should we just stick with the 1,000 sq ft enclosure with a top?


Thoughts on all? Thanks![/QUOTE]

The coop, IMO, should ALWAYS be Ft. Knox. On my last one, I wrapped the exterior in hardware cloth before I put the siding on, top to bottom, and there's a hardware cloth frame protecting the roof area (and keeping my chickens out of the rafters) too. We did a 3/4" plywood floor with a 3/4" rubber mat laid over the whole floor (like a horse stall mat)- makes an excellent gasket for the building, protects the floor from water, mud and poop. The wall frames install on top of the mat (obviously long screws to get through the mat down into the floor frame). Hardware cloth FRAMED over the windows, both sides.

If you're going to have a fenced in area (whether you free range part of the day or whatever your schedule is) --- put a top (TIGHT aviary net) over the fenced part. Why? The fence will keep the chickens from escaping aerial predators. Don't forget to provide shade. To keep the net high enough, put fencing posts (we used 12ft long 4" round ones sunk 3 ft into the ground) at regular intervals to keep the netting up high off the ground so the run is people accessible. I've had hawks divebomb my chickens with me 10 feet away- only the net saved them. Also … if you're going to free range, consider where the birds can scatter to if they're under attack.

 

[Growingthehome]

We have an acre of land in Alabama and about 3/4 of it is wooded and not being used. The other 1/4 has our little home, shed, vehicles, greenhouse, etc. We also have 2 older (8yo) buff orps in a 200 sq ft enclosure; coop & run.

We want to get about 10 started pullets and my original plan was to build a 1,000 sq ft enclosure (coop & run) with a fenced top as well but now I'm wondering if I should just build a Fort Knox coop and then a topless enclosure (all hardware cloth of course for the sides) that takes up the entire 3/4 of an acre that's unused. I don't plan to cut down any trees, so is it safe?

I'm worried about trees falling onto them or hawks swooping in or other animals getting over the fence. I plan to attach a 1-2' hardware cloth skirt all around and build it about 6 ft tall.
Or should we just stick with the 1,000 sq ft enclosure with a top?

If we get a livestock guard dog, would it be safe to let the hens free range in a topless enclosure as long as they're locked up each night? What if the dog lives inside their enclosure and his dog house is right next to their coop? We're considering a Great Pyr or Maremma Sheepdog if they can handle a hot, humid climate.

Thoughts on all? Thanks!

Here is our (me and hobbies) experience with the matter and our views. We have 17 acres. From the very start, we wanted to do free-range as ten acres is pasture and the rest forest. So we set up a coop really secure and trained the chickens to come back to it at night (calling to them with treats every night and on and off in the day so they learn call= treats). When we first started letting them out for extensive times we lost three birds to the neighbor's untrained dog (even with our dog keeping an eye on the girls). Then we called animal control and informed him that by state law I can legally shoot his dog for kill our livestock with no penalty to us. We never saw the dog again. But one night I forgot to lock the coop and two got out. And two got killed. Bottom line. If you raise them wild they will want to be wild. That's okay. But they are not pets then. They won't want to be held. But they make wonderful eggs. It's more work.but cheaper. And to us, better for them.