Keeping Chickens Free Range

[SmColorInDaPan]

Keep a LOT of coverage, shelters for them to hide under. I am down to 1 hen and one Mini Roo, freebie. I've heard the alarm call, stepped outside to find them hiding in a make-do shelter, on the back porch, I put up during for winter. Secure coops can be death traps, so I DON'T coop. OBVIOUSLY, it is up to YOU, You're the Mama.
If it's a rescue dog, IMHO, herding breeds are NOT always the best. Had family out here with a teenage Shep.pup who was trying to Herd My chickens! Lab mixes and if at all possible, one that has come back to the shelter; With the RIGHT love and care, they will be Devoted to you. Even if there is an Accident, I had to hang chick bodies from my Aust,/dane mix's collar, it seemed a game, He wanted to play. They will learn. Now days, I take out a hard boiled egg for a snack and have both chickens and dogs, coming around. Put a bit of wet food in the dog's dishes, dump a tiny bit for the chickens and so on.
Myself and at least one other person here, have set up places for the chickens to hide under for their own safety. When i am gone, i can come home to find my chickens here, dogs loose, yet at the same time, SOMEONE has been nibbling on my hay, Deer.
Good luck. I DON'T name my hens so it's doesn't throw me for a loop when one has gone missing. Oh, that's right, SOME will wander off to either Brood or whatever. They ARE animals and in the end, will do as they chose to do...

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Fortunately, there are lots of places for our birds to hide. We live in a 10X20 storage shed on cinder blocks that will provide excellent cover. Plus there are bushes and trees of all sizes all around, and my birds are all flighty breeds. My biggest concern is that we can't have a rooster. Landlady is adamant about that. Perhaps she will change her mind when she gets attached to hens and they get killed by predators. Someone here said they lose about 30% of their flock each year. So if I have 8 hens, that would be 2-3 losses a year. I can handle that. I don't feel like that's unsustainable for us. I don't mind raising a few chicks from the feed store every spring. I just hope it's not more than that.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Fortunately, there are lots of places for our birds to hide. We live in a 10X20 storage shed on cinder blocks that will provide excellent cover. Plus there are bushes and trees of all sizes all around, and my birds are all flighty breeds. My biggest concern is that we can't have a rooster. Landlady is adamant about that. Perhaps she will change her mind when she gets attached to hens and they get killed by predators. Someone here said they lose about 30% of their flock each year. So if I have 8 hens, that would be 2-3 losses a year. I can handle that. I don't feel like that's unsustainable for us. I don't mind raising a few chicks from the feed store every spring. I just hope it's not more than that.

I am not sure it is a percentage but a number. One predator eats X number of birds. 2 predators 2X..

I lost about 30% last year that came out to about 15 birds. They seem to go in streaks. but then so do predator deaths. Most die of natural causes like lead poisoning, or drowning.

 

[slordaz]

guess I lucked out we are to spring and the couple of predators that tried getting after my hens the Rooster took out. talk about freaking out when I went out and our main rooster was covered in blood, but he's got the drake that helps him and the secondary rooster that moves the hens and stays with them. Both times that's happened it wasn't his or anybody from the flocks. we tracked em until snow got to deep but they haven't been back. Didn't loose any animals this winter but the BR has no comb and the Red only has a little bit of one left.

We have 1 broody sitting on 30+ eggs that everyone contributed to when she started to go broody and now a buff and a white leghorn thinking about it

 

[duluthralphie]

guess I lucked out we are to spring and the couple of predators that tried getting after my hens the Rooster took out. talk about freaking out when I went out and our main rooster was covered in blood, but he's got the drake that helps him and the secondary rooster that moves the hens and stays with them. Both times that's happened it wasn't his or anybody from the flocks. we tracked em until snow got to deep but they haven't been back. Didn't loose any animals this winter but the BR has no comb and the Red only has a little bit of one left.

We have 1 broody sitting on 30+ eggs that everyone contributed to when she started to go broody and now a buff and a white leghorn thinking about it

I lose way more during spring and fall than I do in winter.

I only lost one rooster to an owl that I recall this winter.

 

[centrarchid]

Winter hardest here with birds penned up to compensate. Spring and summer losses more attributable to rough weather complicating lives of young birds. Predators get a few but I make corrective changes very quickly which is enabled with rapid and accurate counting and accurate determination of predator species.

 

[slordaz]

Ours here in Idaho, we made them a nice coop they didn't like, preferred the open horse stall, we didn't add heat or light and they all came through the winter just fine even when we were hitting- 30, though the roosters no longer have their pretty combs. They won't have an issue with the cold again.

flock consists of
hens:
barred rock
buff orpington
leghorns
ameracuanas

Roosters:
Barred rock
Rode Island Red

Blue Swedish Drake

 

[slordaz]

I lose way more during spring and fall than I do in winter.

I only lost one rooster to an owl that I recall this winter.

Thats not bad our BR roo is meaner than all get out, his saving grace from the stew pot or freezer camp, nobody messes with him , the other roo and the drake, even the neighbors dog is scared of the trio

 

[duluthralphie]

Thats not bad our BR roo is meaner than all get out, his saving grace from the stew pot or freezer camp, nobody messes with him , the other roo and the drake, even the neighbors dog is scared of the trio

I was satisfied with my winter loss, it was not overly bad. I would have lost none, had the rooster not been so stupid. I was taking him out of the bachelor pad and moving him to a breeding pen and he escaped. I tried to catch him for over and hour. I went into the house to warm up and give him a chance to find a sleeping place. I went out about 45 minutes later and found him dead with these wing marks in the snow:






He was lying where the feathers are. The owl wing marks are pretty obvious. He was too stupid to reproduce. Darwin's law took him out of the breeding pool.

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

Ralph,
I'm with you, it Doesn't sound like a BAD thing, THAT one becoming Owl food!
Hope one of the 6 I just bought is a better Roo than Bantam Mini I have left. After reading this, I DON'T feel TOO bad losing 5 across Spring, Summer, Fall of '15. ******FINALLY, found the 1st pic OF PENNED Hen given me last year. I know we ALL know this but bragging a bit;The big difference between caged, free range & ONE bag of Feather fixer. Bald Neck due to only opening she had OUT...Poor kid.



This one taken within 2 Months? On 1st cup, DON'T quote me....