Keeping Chickens Free Range

[Merax]

As a first time chicken owner, I learned a couple of useful lessons with my flock.

I originally planned to let them free range after a week getting used to their new coop / run, but they still seemed a bit edgy so I left them in for another week. The first time I let them out about an hour and a half before dusk, and didn't have any problems herding them back to the coop.

Speaking of getting them back into the coop, instead of slowly herding them back I just take their afternoon treat down to the coop calling "chook chook chook!" the entire way. It only took them a few days, and you have to be patient, but eventually they run down the yard after you and straight back into the coop. If you need to herd them though, don't chase them. Just walk behind them with your arms spread and they'll slowly move in the direction you're going.

Also where they free range - I have over an acre so it could be next to impossible to keep an eye on them while they free range. However when they were in the garden next to the kitchen (which is where I want them) I just put a large, shallow bowl of water out. They came and had a drink and now pretty much stay in that garden when they are out. They've made their dust baths there and everything and we can keep an eye on them from the kitchen window.

Additional protection - this one was definitely not intended, but is a definite benefit. My cat is endlessly curious about the chickens. She's on the small side but a ferocious hunter. After an initial supervised meeting where the chickens called her bluff she no longer tries to stalk them but still loves watching them. She will sit / sleep in the garden next to where they are - usually at a distance of only a few feet, which will keep some birds of prey away.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

No one wants a fight, you asked for advice on if anyone knows or has experience with such a practice and you were told of it....and I don't lock up my hens at night because I have two dogs sleeping right outside their coop all night, so nothing can get to them.....or didn't you read that part? 

The problem seems to be that you wanted approval, not advice, and when you didn't get it you got defensive.  I can't really help with that, but several people took time out of their lives to try and help you with your question here.  We said, go ahead and do it if you wish.... but you'll soon see loss of life due to predators...that's nothing more than the truth.  It's not disapproval of the practice, it's just plain ol' truth.  It will happen eventually, even for your neighbor. 

Yes, we've all known of people who do this and they always lose their flocks and we told you that but you only hear what you want to hear, it seems.  Doesn't matter if you think we don't approve or not, the truth is still the truth. 

I surely don't know everything but I do know that chicken is on the menu for everything else and that's all you really need to know to realize that your chickens will eventually disappear if you don't provide them some kind of protection from predators.  Pretty sure everyone knows that, especially people who were raised in the country. 

Yes I heard the dogs. And that's the kind of thing I was hoping to hear. Once again people are confusing personal opinions with experience. I wanted to hear things like yes I have done this and unfortunately my whole flock was eaten or yes I did this but found that it worked better if I used guard dogs to protect my flock etc.. maybe this is just a misunderstanding. That's what I'm hoping and I'm not to good to say sorry if I misunderstood. Maybe I wasn't being clear enough about the information I was seeking. By experience I just wanted to know some of the problems, solutions that occurred when this was tried by the person responding. The tone sounded condescending but that's easy to misinterpret when writing something out. I never said I was not going to provide protection. I think I barely said we are free ranging and just started and only a few hours a day. I shouldn't have to say this because I don't think it's anyone's business unless I give it over freely which I would have if I hadn't felt like I was being belittled.. again maybe a misunderstanding but I just don't like people assuming things. Instead of saying your whole flock is going to die instead you could say are you planning on not keeping protection... that's all I'm saying. Ibe been on here for a little while now. I don't fight people and I'm the first to defend someone if they are being attacked. If I'm upset maybe it's because of the way things were being communicated...

 

[Beekissed]

No worries, that's been happening a lot on here of late.

It's very hard to read tone in text and most folks try to inject humor into their posts but sometimes it just comes off as sarcasm or belittling, but isn't really meant to be. I bet if we were all sitting around on a front porch talking about it, it wouldn't have sounded like that at all and we'd all have had a good laugh about it.

I've been told before that I'm a "know it all" but it never really seems like a put down to me....if someone had chickens for a long time and wrote a book about it, folks would buy it and think it was a great resource because the person has the better part of their life in experience on chickens, so usually people would be grateful for that book and the information it contained. Not only that, but they'd pay a lot of money to access the information. But, you put the same person answering questions for free and suddenly they are a "know it all".

That always seems funny to me.

I'm most certainly NOT a know it all, as only God knows it all, but I have learned a lot along the way and am still learning, just like you. I'm sorry if we came across wrong as it's never meant to be that way...who in the world wants to go around making people feel bad? I certainly don't and I apologize if I managed to do that....sometimes it happens and I have to apologize a lot, but I don't mind saying I'm sorry either. After 8 yrs on here I'm rather in a habit of it by now....

 

[jenniferlamar70]

No worries, that's been happening a lot on here of late.    It's very hard to read tone in text and most folks try to inject humor into their posts but sometimes it just comes off as sarcasm or belittling, but isn't really meant to be.  I bet if we were all sitting around on a front porch talking about it, it wouldn't have sounded like that at all and we'd all have had a good laugh about it. 

I've been told before that I'm a "know it all" but it never really seems like a put down to me....if someone had chickens for a long time and wrote a book about it, folks would buy it and think it was a great resource because the person has the better part of their life in experience on chickens, so usually people would be grateful for that book and the information it contained.  Not only that, but they'd pay a lot of money to access the information.  But, you put the same person answering questions for free and suddenly they are a "know it all".    That always seems funny to me. 

I'm most certainly NOT a know it all, as only God knows it all, but I have learned a lot along the way and am still learning, just like you.  I'm sorry if we came across wrong as it's never meant to be that way...who in the world wants to go around making people feel bad?  I certainly don't and I apologize if I managed to do that....sometimes it happens and I have to apologize a lot, but I don't mind saying I'm sorry either.  After 8 yrs on here I'm rather in a habit of it by now.... 

Lol well thank you and now I feel silly for getting my feathers all ruffled lol. This year has been a rough one for us and I imagine I'm a little easier to temper then I am normally. I'm really sorry. I see you on alot of the same post and always enjoy your responses. Sorry again for the misunderstanding.

 

[blkjak]

I have had chickens/ducks/guineas for 4 yrs now. I free range during the day and lock up at night. I have dogs but not with my flock all the time. Predator loses before this year were minimal. This year I have lost 14 ducks, 4 guineas and 16 chickens. Fox and coyote and 3 skunks. All the chicken keepers I have spoke to have had lots of predation this summer also. I did pen some of my free range birds for a few weeks just to keep them safe but most I continued to let them range. I will be putting my last batch of eggs to hatch in the bator tonight despite it being a little late in the season. I also picked up 6 cuckoo marans today too.

 

[Beekissed]

Lol well thank you and now I feel silly for getting my feathers all ruffled lol. This year has been a rough one for us and I imagine I'm a little easier to temper then I am normally. I'm really sorry. I see you on alot of the same post and always enjoy your responses. Sorry again for the misunderstanding.

Feeling silly is what makes us human, so you are not alone. I felt silly on here yesterday when I failed to communicate a single thought coherently and offended some fine people without ever meaning to...sometimes all the thoughts get jumbled and only the person in that head knew what they were trying to say. My thoughts are increasingly jumbled these past few years.

My kids make fun of me a lot for it....but at least it keeps them laughing. Makes me still feel good for something.

 

[lazy gardener]

Experience with free ranging/not free ranging, predators??? In my early granola days, I had several flocks. Neighbor's dog came and killed half of my birds. I don't remember if they were in their run, or out ranging at the time. Neighbor denied it until she had to come to my house and pick up her dog who was blood spattered and tied to a tree. She made monetary ammends, but that did not make up for the loss of life. A year or two later, I was in the habit of leaving my pop door open at night. Chickens were pretty good at staying in the run. Coon went in coop and killed all but 3 of my birds in a single night. Came back the next morning to finish what he had started. Hubby met him with a .22. Fast forward several decades to my current "farmsteading". Birds out to free range every day, with plenty of options for cover. Several years without any loss. Several years ago, 2 large dogs came loping through our yard. Chickens were in their run at the time. The dogs decided they'd like to have some chicken, and were actually in a stand off with hubby and I over the disagreement. One of them was facing down hubby, and growling at him. ACO was called, but we didn't know who they belonged to. Several weeks later, they came back. I was in my kitchen, and I heard noise at the front steps. These 2 dogs had come in the garage, through the basement, and wandered up into the livingroom. I calmly shut the door, trapping 2 very wet and smelly dogs in my house, and held them till ACO came to pick them up. Last summer, I lost 3 birds in a very short time to Northern Goshawk. I had to build a covered run, or give up the option of keeping chickens. I can no longer let them out to free range AT ALL. Northern Goshawk (several at a time) and Red Tail (2 or more at a time) scoping my yard every day, even sitting in the trees over my chicken run, taunting both my flock and me. Last week, I was out watering my garden, and a Red Tail flew overhead. In frustration, I put the hose on jet spray and aimed it up at him. He came back and circled in much closer, made several loops so he could enjoy the pretty rainbow I was making for him. I had electronet, and that works well except for aerial predators... but only as long as you can keep your birds from flying over the net. In MY situation, right now, the only way I can keep birds AT ALL is in a covered run. Even if I'm sitting out with them, and let them out to range, the hawks show up within 10 minutes.

 

[dekel18042]

Experience with free ranging/not free ranging, predators??? In my early granola days, I had several flocks. Neighbor's dog came and killed half of my birds. I don't remember if they were in their run, or out ranging at the time. Neighbor denied it until she had to come to my house and pick up her dog who was blood spattered and tied to a tree. She made monetary ammends, but that did not make up for the loss of life. A year or two later, I was in the habit of leaving my pop door open at night. Chickens were pretty good at staying in the run. Coon went in coop and killed all but 3 of my birds in a single night. Came back the next morning to finish what he had started. Hubby met him with a .22. Fast forward several decades to my current "farmsteading". Birds out to free range every day, with plenty of options for cover. Several years without any loss. Several years ago, 2 large dogs came loping through our yard. Chickens were in their run at the time. The dogs decided they'd like to have some chicken, and were actually in a stand off with hubby and I over the disagreement. One of them was facing down hubby, and growling at him. ACO was called, but we didn't know who they belonged to. Several weeks later, they came back. I was in my kitchen, and I heard noise at the front steps. These 2 dogs had come in the garage, through the basement, and wandered up into the livingroom. I calmly shut the door, trapping 2 very wet and smelly dogs in my house, and held them till ACO came to pick them up. Last summer, I lost 3 birds in a very short time to Northern Goshawk. I had to build a covered run, or give up the option of keeping chickens. I can no longer let them out to free range AT ALL. Northern Goshawk (several at a time) and Red Tail (2 or more at a time) scoping my yard every day, even sitting in the trees over my chicken run, taunting both my flock and me. Last week, I was out watering my garden, and a Red Tail flew overhead. In frustration, I put the hose on jet spray and aimed it up at him. He came back and circled in much closer, made several loops so he could enjoy the pretty rainbow I was making for him. I had electronet, and that works well except for aerial predators... but only as long as you can keep your birds from flying over the net. In MY situation, right now, the only way I can keep birds AT ALL is in a covered run. Even if I'm sitting out with them, and let them out to range, the hawks show up within 10 minutes.

If hawks are your main problem, curious about what breeds of chickens you have? Several years ago we had a flock of Rhode Island Red hens and we had major hawk problems (mostly red tails) so I did some research which suggested the larger the chicken the safer they would be. So when we went back into chickens again we got Jersey giants and added a rooster then multiple roosters.
Thankfully we've had no hawk losses. Unfortunately foxes are a different story and they love larger birds, but we kept fortifying their living quarters. We have coops with covered runs and everything is inside a fenced in area around the house where the dogs are in and out. After suffering devastating fox loses things have quieted down. (That is when we added the final fencing so the chickens could free range without going into the forest. We see hawks but thankfully they have either missed (going after juvenile birds) or don't come down. The 1+ acre the birds free range in has all kinds of cover, but we're always on our toes to stay ahead of predators.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

  Feeling silly is what makes us human, so you are not alone.  I felt silly on here yesterday when I failed to communicate a single thought coherently and offended some fine people without ever meaning to...sometimes all the thoughts get jumbled and only the person in that head knew what they were trying to say.  My thoughts are increasingly jumbled these past few years.    My kids make fun of me a lot for it....but at least it keeps them laughing.  Makes me still feel good for something. 

Lol my kids have me losing my mind more the the chickens lol. I'll go through every dogs name before I get to a kids name when I'm calling them lmao..

Experience with free ranging/not free ranging, predators???  In my early granola days, I had several flocks.  Neighbor's dog came and killed half of my birds.  I don't remember if they were in their run, or out ranging at the time.  Neighbor denied it until she had to come to my house and pick up her dog who was blood spattered and tied to a tree.  She made monetary ammends, but that did not make up for the loss of life.  A year or two later, I was in the habit of leaving my pop door open at night.  Chickens were pretty good at staying in the run.  Coon went in coop and killed all but 3 of my birds in a single night.  Came back the next morning to finish what he had started.  Hubby met him with a .22.  Fast forward several decades to my current "farmsteading".  Birds out to free range every day, with plenty of options for cover.  Several years without any loss.  Several years ago, 2 large dogs came loping through our yard.  Chickens were in their run at the time.  The dogs decided they'd like to have some chicken, and were actually in a stand off with hubby and I over the disagreement.  One of them was facing down hubby, and growling at him.  ACO was called, but we didn't know who they belonged to.  Several weeks later, they came back.  I was in my kitchen, and I heard noise at the front steps.  These 2 dogs had come in the garage, through the basement, and wandered up into the livingroom.  I calmly shut the door, trapping 2 very wet and smelly dogs in my house, and held them till ACO came to pick them up.  Last summer, I lost 3 birds in a very short time to Northern Goshawk.  I had to build a covered run, or give up the option of keeping chickens.  I can no longer let them out to free range AT ALL.  Northern Goshawk (several at a time) and Red Tail (2 or more at a time) scoping my yard every day, even sitting in the trees over my chicken run, taunting both my flock and me.  Last week, I was out watering my garden, and a Red Tail flew overhead.  In frustration, I put the hose on jet spray and aimed it up at him.  He came back and circled in much closer, made several loops so he could enjoy the pretty rainbow I was making for him.  I had electronet, and that works well except for aerial predators... but only as long as you can keep your birds from flying over the net.  In MY situation, right now, the only way I can keep birds AT ALL is in a covered run.  Even if I'm sitting out with them, and let them out to range, the hawks show up within 10 minutes.  

I heard that having black chickens can help deter hawks but I haven't tried it.. our biggest predators where we are now are hawks and coyotes..

 

[centrarchid]

Color is not important when the birds are moving. It may be important with motionless hens on nest or otherwise covering brood. It may also be important when chickens freeze while in cover. Even my wild-type colored rooster are hard to see when in shadows and cover they retreat while they are motionless. To get a feel for this yourself you need to have a range of color types trying to hide from you. When moving all are easy to see. When they hunker down in the vegetation the birds not matching background stick out like sore thumbs.