Keeping Chickens Free Range

[Tikkijane]

I have a friend who keeps a free ranging flock and has a pit bull terrier, a griffon terrier mix and a Chihuahua.  The larger two are fantastic with her flock and are very protective of them...the Chihuahua on the other hand, chases them relentlessly any chance he gets and tries to attack them even though they're three times his size.  She and her family do their best to make sure he doesn't get out of the house unless it's straight to the dogs' fenced area but once in a while he'll slip out the front door and he's so little and quick, he's not easy to catch. 

That's what happened with us. The doxie managed to sneak out of the house- we KNEW he'd go after the littles- he'd try to snap them out of our hands - so he was being leashed to go out. No one knows how ge got out that day. Once they got bigger, he was ok- it was the younger bantams without mamas he got. But he's gone. Took him to a small dog rescue. I was SOOOOO mad. So mad.

My cairn terrier leaves them along. So does my rough coat Jack Russell and my border collies. The GS mix got a single bird. We trained; he left them alone. He was doing well {although barking at horses and chasing the baby cows, so it was prolly a matter of time} until he decided to go after my cats. But ya. Sometimes the littles are the worst ones because they have been bred to go after vermin.

 

[Tikkijane]

No that is one of the main shared characteristics colorful eggs (they can also be pink). But one of the original breeders who created the Ameraucana is on the EE thread. They also share the tuffs, Ameraucana have a muff (though I could have that backwards)

Araucanas are rumpless and have ear tufts. Ameraucanas have muffs/beards, and tails. Both lay blue ehgs5and have pea combs. The ABC {now the Ameraucana Alliance} has a really good FAQ.

http://ameraucanaalliance.org/faq.html

 

[poodlechicks]

Hi! First time on this thread. I haven't read any posts, so I'm sure my question has been answered before. Even though my "free range" area has boundaries, I feel this would be the thread to post my concerns. I'd like to hear your opinions about my situation, as no practical solutions have come to mind.
I "free range" my heavy breed chickens in my 1 acre orchard, which is fenced with a 4ft high chain link fence. My heavy breeds can run and forage, but they aren't able or interested in flying over the fence. It is a good sized piece of land to them, and they do feel like they are free ranged

I have recently bought the rare ornamental layer package from McMurray and the birds are almost 10 weeks old now. There are 9 of them and some of them are light, flighty breeds, with very good flying skills. I have kept them in a coop and run situation for the time being, but I want to free range them with the others, as I like my birds to feel free. But although there is a lot of room for them to fly and trees for them to perch, I am afraid they will eventually figure out they can fly over the fence and land on my neighbors' property a few feet across. These neighbors have a very unfriendly dog contained by a rope in their unfenced yard.

Are there ways to keep these birds in?

Thank you!

 

[Tikkijane]

Alright I have to admit that the wild life is just doing what is natural and I have dune my best by putting up a fence all the way around the yard I use for my chickens, guinea, ducks, geese and turkeys and some of them have individual or group six sided cages to protect them from the predators the funny part is that the fox or bobcats and coyotes them are the primary wild animals and the house cats and dogs do more damage as the wild animals only take one bird at a time and come back later and this is the sad part because I have to protect the flock but on the other hand I have people who live around me that go out and pick up a litter of kittens for pets and then let them run free and expect them to feed themselves these become problems as they will wipe out an entire new flock of chicks and the most chicks I have lost was just over 40 that was a lot of my time wasted in hatching them out even if it was accomplished by the momma chickens ..

The worst month I ever had with house cats was two boxes of 12 gauge with 25 shots per box and a single barrel shotgun and I had a large pile of cats as the local small dump said no dumping of a corpse so I dug a hole and later planted a pomegranate bush on top .


The worst day for a dog pack was 3 dogs and one other ran fast enough to get to the other side of the fence and that was a .22 I used there and none of them made me happy and the worst part is when some parents send out their children to find their so called pets ..


Now the State Licensed Trapper from Sacramento had to come by once because I returned a dog that passed away in my yard from lead damage now to make a long drawn out story short I was informed by the State Trapper who is in charge of protecting livestock that I needed to contact the local Deputies and have one of them present when turning over the remains as there are too many lawyers and very few responsible animal owners .


Now I down one wild animal to fifty or more domestic animals .


Oh I do have a local Ferret that got loose several years ago and it just steels eggs and once in a wile a hen looses some rear end feathers .













Gander007  


  





  

I have never had an issue with cats. 6 of my cats are outside full time. Maybe it's because they were raised with them. Even the barn babies' mama left the chickens alone. Huh.

 

[Tikkijane]

Hi! First time on this thread. I haven't read any posts, so I'm sure my question has been answered before. Even though my "free range" area has boundaries, I feel this would be the thread to post my concerns. I'd like to hear your opinions about my situation, as no practical solutions have come to mind.
I "free range" my heavy breed chickens in my 1 acre orchard, which is fenced with a 4ft high chain link fence. My heavy breeds can run and forage, but they aren't able or interested in flying over the fence. It is a good sized piece of land to them, and they do feel like they are free ranged

I have recently bought the rare ornamental layer package from McMurray and the birds are almost 10 weeks old now. There are 9 of them and some of them are light, flighty breeds, with very good flying skills. I have kept them in a coop and run situation for the time being, but I want to free range them with the others, as I like my birds to feel free. But although there is a lot of room for them to fly and trees for them to perch, I am afraid they will eventually figure out they can fly over the fence and land on my neighbors' property a few feet across. These neighbors have a very unfriendly dog contained by a rope in their unfenced yard. 

Are there ways to keep these birds in?

Thank you!

Much higher fence. You might actually consider a run for them.

 

[poodlechicks]

Thanks for the reply! I thought about that, but can't figure out a way to make chain link fence higher without spending so much money. How high should it be?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Alright I have to admit that the wild life is just doing what is natural and I have dune my best by putting up a fence all the way around the yard I use for my chickens, guinea, ducks, geese and turkeys and some of them have individual or group six sided cages to protect them from the predators the funny part is that the fox or bobcats and coyotes them are the primary wild animals and the house cats and dogs do more damage as the wild animals only take one bird at a time and come back later and this is the sad part because I have to protect the flock but on the other hand I have people who live around me that go out and pick up a litter of kittens for pets and then let them run free and expect them to feed themselves these become problems as they will wipe out an entire new flock of chicks and the most chicks I have lost was just over 40 that was a lot of my time wasted in hatching them out even if it was accomplished by the momma chickens ..

The worst month I ever had with house cats was two boxes of 12 gauge with 25 shots per box and a single barrel shotgun and I had a large pile of cats as the local small dump said no dumping of a corpse so I dug a hole and later planted a pomegranate bush on top .


The worst day for a dog pack was 3 dogs and one other ran fast enough to get to the other side of the fence and that was a .22 I used there and none of them made me happy and the worst part is when some parents send out their children to find their so called pets ..


Now the State Licensed Trapper from Sacramento had to come by once because I returned a dog that passed away in my yard from lead damage now to make a long drawn out story short I was informed by the State Trapper who is in charge of protecting livestock that I needed to contact the local Deputies and have one of them present when turning over the remains as there are too many lawyers and very few responsible animal owners .


Now I down one wild animal to fifty or more domestic animals .


Oh I do have a local Ferret that got loose several years ago and it just steels eggs and once in a wile a hen looses some rear end feathers .













Gander007  


  





  

I have never had an issue with cats. 6 of my cats are outside full time. Maybe it's because they were raised with them. Even the barn babies' mama left the chickens alone. Huh.

Nope cats are my number 1 predator too (and they are my cats) I lost most of my first flock of chicks because I let them out to early, I should have kept them protected for another week or two. We got rid of the offending barn cats and started again, wiser. My cats can see the chicks, but I keep them in my "brooder room" (it is a secured room in my barn) until old enough to be without heat. I think my birds were about 7 weeks when I decided to let them out for a few hours, lost all but 3 from that first group. Cats killed them all.
But these are barn/farm cats and much wilder, stronger, then your typical house pet.

 

[islandgirl82]

That's what happened with us. The doxie managed to sneak out of the house- we KNEW he'd go after the littles- he'd try to snap them out of our hands - so he was being leashed to go out. No one knows how ge got out that day. Once they got bigger, he was ok- it was the younger bantams without mamas he got. But he's gone. Took him to a small dog rescue. I was SOOOOO mad. So mad.

My cairn terrier leaves them along. So does my rough coat Jack Russell and my border collies. The GS mix got a single bird. We trained; he left them alone. He was doing well {although barking at horses and chasing the baby cows, so it was prolly a matter of time} until he decided to go after my cats. But ya. Sometimes the littles are the worst ones because they have been bred to go after vermin.

If I were my friend, that Chihuahua would have been gone ages ago (never would have come home in the first place really). He's bitten one of her children and gets really bossy with the other two dogs in addition to how awful he is with the chickens.

I had a rescue Westie who was 8,5 years old when he came to us. The first time he met my flock (on opposite sides of the fencing), one hen flapped her wings and it terrified him. He ran back to the front porch and hid under the bench until I went back in the house. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect introduction. When they all got to be out together, my Olive Egger was so enamored with the Westie that she followed him everywhere he went. He used to hide UNDER my newfie and peak out to see if she was still there. He eventually stopped being afraid of them but never went after them...just cleaned up behind them which was gross but a big step up from what he was eating in the home he came from.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hmmmmmmmm Dessert!!

 

[islandgirl82]

Hmmmmmmmm Dessert!!

LOL thankfully the newfie doesn't touch the stuff. He was eating snow.