Keeping Chickens Free Range

[katatonic123]

 Congrats Kat.
  I've left mine out and about, came home to them fine, but I have dogs. Great that she KNEW? (DID YOU TRAIN her to go INTO the dog house?)
 C.~

No didn't train her at all. Usually the dog house is empty and just sitting up there but I put shavings in it like they have in their coop. Since it is a familiar fixture I hoped that would be enough to entice her in at night so she'd be warm enough by herself.

 

[Sharon303]

I have 9 lovely hand raised turkeys who thinks I am their mom. Normally, when I am at home they stay close but if I am at working they wonder over to the neighbors (1/4 miles away to check out his car). I tried keeping them in their lot but it too long of a day. Any suggestions? I hate to down size the group since they are a joy to watch.

 

[duluthralphie]

Welcome to BYC and the thread..

I have no suggestion for you. My turkeys never leave the yard. Turkeys are extremely social so maybe they stopped by the neighbors for coffee,


I would suggest you post them on a turkey thread and see what they say.
Here is one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/966414/a-century-of-turkey-talk-2000-2100/1500#post_15827923

 

[artsygirl]

the fox came back the other night and he killed two my chickens. Jade and Casanova. He didn't get into the main coop, they were a separate flock due to Jade being picked on horribly and a rooster that was usually aggressive with humans. It's devastating :'( my goofy brahma is now gone. Even I'd the rooster was aggressive I still cared for him. Gotta work on even more security for my flock now so if he comes back he won't get anymore. He just killed them and didn't take them. I'm still very upset.

 

[artsygirl]

Yeah the fox attacked in April or so of this year, stopped them from carrying off one of my girls. Not sure if this attack was the same fox or another.

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

Ok I have an amazing free range good stuff like this never happens to me type story. Saturday I let the babies out to range. I knew we'd have to put them up early because we were leaving for vacation that evening but knew it would be easier to prep coops without them in there. Fast forward to 3 p.m. start to put them away. 4 in the small coop easy peasy. Get 6 in the other coop. Catch scarlett, catch oj, 4 left to go. Grab hubby and son to help wrangle. Get 3 of the 4. Last one is not having it. She ended up on top of the shed, flew off that and into the blackberry bushes just into the field. I almost had her out of that and she flew way into the field where we couldn't find her at all. Went back in for a bit hoping she would come back. Was almost time to leave and she still hadn't come back but I found some feathers just out of the field. I feared the worst but went ahead and put out food and water and put bedding in a dog house by the coops. We left and I've done nothing but worry about her since we've been gone. Planned on getting home fairly early in the evening so I'd have time to check things out but ended up stuck on the interstate behind a wreck for 2 hrs. Didn't get home til after dark. Fearing what I'd find, or wouldn't find as the case would be, I took off with the flashlight. I was greeted with the best little buff face looking at me from the inside of the dog house! She is fine. Not a scratch on her. I was ecstatic!

Now I have a WOW,

what free range can DO story. I lost all hens either to a Bobcat, #1 suspect, coyote or Fox. Was given 2 RIRs, as seen above. BTW, been using Sevin, bug killer for plants, on one obviously SOMETHING causing problems. Was told, by giftor one may not lay, but hey, free is free..
The Bigger and recovering one, not laid w/me, LAID FOR ME DAY B4 Y-DAY! MIND, THESE 2 WERE IN A CAGE A LITTLE BIGGER THAN A BREAD BOX!! Being free all day, for 2 weeks, has done WONDERS! Although she DOES seem to have a fetish for toes and bare feet.....
Wish me luck tracking down eggs....I need the exercise

 

[Debby27]

the fox came back the other night and he killed two my chickens. Jade and Casanova. He didn't get into the main coop, they were a separate flock due to Jade being picked on horribly and a rooster that was usually aggressive with humans. It's devastating :'( my goofy brahma is now gone. Even I'd the rooster was aggressive I still cared for him. Gotta work on even more security for my flock now so if he comes back he won't get anymore. He just killed them and didn't take them. I'm still very upset.

Are you sure it's a fox? Raccoons and skunks will kill just to kill....usually rip the heads off, also weasels will too. The fox that got my girls....3 this year...took all of them from the yard and ate them....I've never just found a dead hen....always feathers and no hen....

 

[artsygirl]

Are you sure it's a fox?  Raccoons and skunks will kill just to kill....usually rip the heads off, also weasels will too.  The fox that got my girls....3 this year...took all of them from the yard and ate them....I've never just found a dead hen....always feathers and no hen....

we believe so only predator we've seen and has attacked my flock. I'm not sure what the scene actually looked like my husband found them and took care of it. All I saw is where it happened, blood and feathers everywhere. All's I know is my new run/ coop is gonna have two layers of fence and electric fence. The rooster was a pretty good sized bird, and imposing, well as much as a chicken can be.

 

[blueyedgurl1]

We have 36 chickens. Two full grown roosters, and 34 hens. Some are 2 1/2, some 1 1/2, some 8 months and some chicks that are 6wks. We have free ranged ours since getting the first, 2 1/2 years ago. We have family land, which means that between three families, we have about 8 acres. They range all over. We even have one that is a loner that goes across the street and up the mountain. They all come home at dark and we have never had any issues with predators. If we walk out in the yard and call "here chick, chick, chick" they all come running. If we need to put them in the run for whatever reason, we call and throw a couple of hands full of scratch in the run. We offer organic feed in self pvc feeders that we have made and go through a 50# bag every two weeks. We have a 5 gal bucket with water nipples that we keep full and even have an old hospital basin that we keep full of water for them. Our coop is 12x10 and the run is 12x30. We do have issues with finding the eggs. We will find a hidden nest but notice that once we remove the eggs, they won't lay there again! Most of them lay in the nest boxes in the coop, but the 8 mo old seem to like to wander into the woods. Right now, most of them are molting. Frightening isn't the word for how they look! Our youngest daughter is mildly impaired and the chickens were something that she wanted to get. They love her! To watch how they react when she is here is nothing more than a miracle. They will follow her anywhere she goes and love for her to cuddle with them. Even though they are soooooo messy, it is worth all the cleaning and spraying to watch them together! I also was told by an "old timer" that we should watch the crows. He said the chickens watch the crows. When the crows sense danger and take flight, the chickens will do the same. A few days after he told us this, we were looking out the window and watching the mother hen and babies. Sure enough, when the crows that were a little way off startled and took flight, the mother hen ran with the babies under the porch. I have noticed this procedure several times since then.

 

[50-140]

Here's my birds enjoying the back yard. They are 19 weeks old, and have been ranging since they were 10 weeks. They've got 5 fenced acres to roam. I haven't had any predators with the exception of coyotes coming around in the early A.M when they are secure in their coop which you can see in the back above the archery target. Coyotes are smart enough not to come around during the daytime.
You can see the banty rooster behind the red, it's kind of funny to see him direct the flock around.