Keeping Chickens Free Range

[gander007]

This noon, while hubby and I were out winterizing the run, we witnessed 5 crows chasing off a hawk. I love my crows!

I have a murder of crows that hang around my place and the Red Tailed Hawks keep their distance anymore but on the other hand the crows do steel the chicken eggs but my loss of young chicks has dropped to zero .

 

[ShrekDawg]

Let the chickens out in the yard for the first time in a while and there's a rabbit just chilling with them

 

[ShrekDawg]

OMG I know I just shared but had to share this..

All 8 of them crowded the door and just stood there for a few minutes... I guess they wanted treats??? I obliged of course

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

OMG I know I just shared but had to share this..

All 8 of them crowded the door and just stood there for a few minutes... I guess they wanted treats??? I obliged of course

They have you trained.

Lovely flock!

 

[ShrekDawg]

They have you trained.

Lovely flock!

They sure do, that's for sure! And thank you

 

[Kathy Ray]

Hi! I try to pen my chickens up at night, they don't like it, they want to roost on my front porch and poop there. Good thing we have a pressure sprayer. When I can get them penned up at night, I let them out to forage in the late morning or early afternoon, after I am reasonably sure that their eggs have been laid. I don't want to go hunting all over my property for their nests. They are allowed to forage for the rest of the day and we put feed down in the run to get them to come back in. They seem to love the feed we buy for them and consider foraging as snacking.

We finally have our first broody after 3 years of having chickens, guineas and ducks. She is barely under the eave of our house. If the rain slants in, she gets a little wet but I'm afraid to move her, afraid she will not sit her eggs if I move them.

we have a large back yard, about 1/2acre. We were letting them have the whole area, but....pooping on our patio, porch, swing, was too much for me! Lol we fenced in most of the yard, they still have freedom, and go in their roost willingly!

 

[lcertuche]

Chickens are brats they go whereever you don't want them to go. Near sundown just call them and throw a handful of feed or grain in their coop and they will get the idea (usually). Just a few nights should do it.

 

[lazy gardener]

You can encourage crows and blue jays by setting up feeding stations for them. They love corn, sunflower seed, peanuts and dog or cat kibble. Both annoy and chase hawks.
I know some people have said you can have a problem with both these birds and baby chicks, but I never have had. Their feeding stations are outside the yard and I have never seen them land in the yard.

I stopped feeding wild birds a couple of years ago. (they are finding plenty of feed growing in my yard). But, it might be a good idea to simply buy a bag of cracked corn to encourage both the crows and turkeys to make themselves more at home in my yard.

 

[mountainrun]

Hi

Welcome to BYC.

Only you can tell for sure, the rest of us are guessing based on what our property looks like.  That said, I live close to a major county highway where people drive around mach 2.3.

The only birds that get to the highway are the guineas. They go down there to rob the brinks trucks for gold and treasure. Guineas are that way. I lose a lot to the road.  I have never lost a chicken to the road.  I live on a small farm surrounded by Federal wildlife area that does not allow trapping or hunting of predators.  I lose some to them.  It is not enough to get me to stop free ranging.

The birds really do not go far from the coop.  The furthest they go is 300-350 ft  towards the other barns, They really stay in the area I have mowed and we live in. There is an unmowed woods right behind the coop they only go 50-100 ft into that.

Good luck on your trial runs.   BTW I make mine stay inside until 9-11 am because of birds of prey. Mainly eagles,  I have a neighbor across the main road that has a few chickens. I normally wait until I see the BOP take one of his before letting mine out. I figure they (the BOP) have eaten for the day then....

Thanks

We are gonna try splitting the group in half and letting half free range from a chicken tractor (that way if we have heavier losses than expected we won't lose the birds I really don't want to lose)

We will see how it goes.

 

[lazy gardener]

By only letting half of your flock out at a time, the ones that are out may stay closer to the run b/c they won't want to be separated from their caged flock mates.