IS THIS NORMAL????

[Pipermom]

I'm a newbie to chickens (haven't gotten them yet) and we have a pretty good size backyard. I'm wondering what some pros and cons to free ranging? I am thinking about doing it but I'd like some more opinions.

Where we live there are too many coyotes, possums, armadillos and dogs to be able to free range. We have to have a pen with netting over the top (did I forget to mention the hawks and owls?) and electric fencing running the perimeter....which adds its own element of excitement! Growing up in Western NC, we did do the free-range thing and the egg hunts were part of our daily entertainment

 

[livelifebyluck]

okay so they will lay eggs around the yard, Easter Egg hunt all year around literally lol! we have a fully fenced in yard so i'm not really worried about them getting out but that wont stop from critters getting in. but will free rang have any affect on the egg laying? We are building a coop with a run...I'm so excited my friends and family have had enough of me talking about chickens so I figure I'll ask people who share my excitement!

 

[sallihennipenni]

Spring = eggs. Lighting is really important. You need to start this before the moult next year to trick them into thinking the season remains right for reproduction. However... Do you have enough artificial light? You need one 60 watt incandescent bulb or 15-watt compact fluorescent, 7 ft (0.2m) above the floor FOR around 200 square feet. Place light above feeders away from nesting area. You need a timer & your hens need 15 hours of constant light a day ( but also need 6-8 hours of dark rest). If eggs are important I would stop free-ranging...

Sounds like you've been around the block with raising chickens Smoochie. Thanks for the advice! (I appreciate all the advice I've gotten from everyone....very helpful.) We're not in it for eggs....so we'll wait it out and let the girls cycle through this. Next year though, we may try adding more daylight hours. Does this actually trick them into NOT moulting? How does that work? Don't they replace their feathers every year? I'm new to this!!

 

[sallihennipenni]

I'm a newbie to chickens (haven't gotten them yet) and we have a pretty good size backyard. I'm wondering what some pros and cons to free ranging? I am thinking about doing it but I'd like some more opinions.

Before we decided to free range, I posted a similar post and got lots of good advice. I was sooooo worried, because we live in 20 acres of woods in Central Illinois. We have it all.....racoons, coyotes, hawks, fox, possums, minks (my husband shot a mink last Spring!),weasels, etc.... We started with 16 hens and lost 2 shortly after putting them out in the coop to a racoon. We weren't free ranging then, but needed to "beef up" our run. That took care of that problem. When the girls were old enough (about 16 weeks) we started letting them out during the day. With all the many predators we have around here I'm surprised we haven't lost any more!! We've seen hawks and I think we had one try to grab a chicken their first year (I heard a commotion and saw a pile of feathers matching one rather bare bottomed chicken!) but thankfully, we still had all our girls, so I believe it was a "botched hit and run". I can't say if you'd have the same good luck where you're located, but I'd encourage you to give it a try. Watching chickens doing what chickens do is a hoot!! Very entertaining! Our birds are much happier....waiting at the door when they know it's time for us to let them out (around 10am each day). They stroll over toward the house when they know it's about time to go back in (near dusk) and eagerly wait for us to bring out the "scratch" can. One word of caution.....if we had neighborhood dogs coming around, I'd never let our girls free range. I've read too many horror stories about a neighbor's dog coming over and wiping out whole flocks!! Also, if you aren't up to chasing hens out of your landscaping, don't free range. This hasn't been a huge problem for us, but it can get aggravating at times. I just finally decided I value my hens more than my flowers! Good luck with your chickens when you get them. I think you'll love the experience!

 

[sallihennipenni]

okay so they will lay eggs around the yard, Easter Egg hunt all year around literally lol! we have a fully fenced in yard so i'm not really worried about them getting out but that wont stop from critters getting in. but will free rang have any affect on the egg laying? We are building a coop with a run...I'm so excited my friends and family have had enough of me talking about chickens so I figure I'll ask people who share my excitement!

Me again.....I forgot to mention. Unless our hens are laying in the berry patch, which based on the comments I've seen here, I don't think that's the case.....then no, it won't be like an Easter Egg hunt. You'll have your nesting boxes installed before they begin laying. When they're near the laying age (22 - 25 weeks), they'll begin showing an interest in the boxes.....going in and out, trying each one out. Our hens have been very good to go into a nesting box to lay even if they're out free ranging. They'll come back to the coop and sit! The only problem we had was with a hen that went broody. She didn't come in one evening and we thought for sure she had been snatched by a fox or something. Well....SIX DAYS LATER....she showed up injured and missing a lot of feathers!! We followed the feather trail and found broken eggs in the area she had decided to sit on her eggs and hatch a family....(we don't have a rooster, so that would never happen, but she didn't know that....poor thing). She was ONE LUCKY CHICK! Now, three months later, she's alive and doing well. Fat and sassy as ever!!

 

[janelle18]

Our 12 hens are going through the 1 1/2 year molt. They've been going through it for what seems like FOREVER now!! (Actually, about 2 1/2 to 3 months). We are getting 1 egg a day. If we're lucky, we get 2. Sometimes none. The girls look ok, except for 2 hens who are looking pretty shaggy. We have feathers everywhere though, so I'm assuming they're all, or most all of them are still molting? Is this low level of egg production normal??? I expected their production to drop off a little, but not go away entirely! We free range our hens during the day and lately they've been spending most of their daylight hours in a large berry patch. I'm suspicious that they possibly are laying in the berry patch. I've tried looking for eggs in there a couple of times and haven't seen any, but it's a very "thorny" place and hard to move around. I hope to get a response from some of you who have had hens go through this molt and tell me if we should be seeing more eggs from them and just give it more time, or if we should check that berry patch more thoroughly!

funny you should mention a specific spot where they all hang out. My girls are moulting as well and have taken to spending most of there day under a big pine tree, i think they luck it because they can dust bathe in the dirt underneath and it offers protection from sky predators. There are feathers everywhere under that tree! One of the hens is laying .. about every other day, but she always goes back to the coop and lays in the nest box... good chicken!!!

 

[GardenSimply]

That is a loaded question... lots of ideas and opinions. But one thing is certain, without "letting them out" they are at the mercy of what you feed them. For us, this is the biggest consideration.

The most obvious "cons" to letting them have free run is the chicken poop in the yard (which is not nearly as bad as goose poop!) and there is no "pretty" way to keep the landscaping safe. They will dig up and scratch out anything that is not deep and established (like a tree).

But if you want to turn your backyard into a chicken haven and don't have neighbors that will be disdainful or downright complaining, then letting them out to go after their own food and romp and play freely will allow you to have very happy chickens. One of the cons to leaving them out in an open yard might be predators, depending on your fencing.

janelle, that is funny, we have two very large pine trees and it is our girls favorite spot too, feathers galore! LOL

 

[livelifebyluck]

Thank you for all the info one of the main reasons why I want to free range is because where we live we have a big issue with fleas and ticks so if we can dent that a little I'd be one happy person!! We have a smaller garden so I think I may just fence it off just to eliminate the headache of them getting into it. So is a hen thats being Broody more or less going threw that akward teenage sassy phase? I'm just trying to get the lingo down lol.

 

[GardenSimply]

livelife... a broody is a hen that wants to "sit" on eggs and hatch them out. Usually the sassy teenagers are not broody,

We did fence in our garden, chickens will completely tear it up.

 

[sallihennipenni]

funny you should mention a specific spot where they all hang out. My girls are moulting as well and have taken to spending most of there day under a big pine tree, i think they luck it because they can dust bathe in the dirt underneath and it offers protection from sky predators. There are feathers everywhere under that tree! One of the hens is laying .. about every other day, but she always goes back to the coop and lays in the nest box... good chicken!!!

Janelle18.... the fact that our berry patch offers them protection from sky predators has something to do with it being their favorite place....like your pine tree. Also, I think it's loaded with stuff going to seed and they're having fun finding little tid-bits. Like yours, our few eggs are in their nesting box. Yes....we like good chickens!!