Keeping Chickens Free Range

[earlyredrooster]

Bummer... Swooping predators are my nightmare, they are the one critter that can really hurt a flock and you can't control them easily.

Like a said taking an Eagle, hawk or falcon out of season* is a nasty crime up here.. 

I really do not know what I would do if they became a problem.





* for those of you with no sense of humor, there is no season on raptors anywhere.....

Yeah but chickens around here seem to be toxic, several hawks were found dead from lead poisoning after consuming some of the neighborhood birds.

 

[duluthralphie]

One has to wonder why they would consume chickens with high lead content...silly birds!

 

[earlyredrooster]

One has to wonder why they would consume chickens with high lead content...silly birds!

I know right.

 

[dpenning]

Turns out my girls are free range after all. They have a shed coop with an automatic pop door with a light sensor. Around that I put some electric fencing around a big Bradford pear tree for their "run". We are only here on weekends so Mon-Thurs they are on their own. When we got here this weekend the girls are just flying over the fences and exploring the yard, going back to the coop to lay, then wandering some more. Friday one of my dogs chased one of the hens over the fence into the neighbors yard. Sat morning she was back with the gang. Seems like they know where home is so I'm glad they take advantage of the extra space!

 

[duluthralphie]

Turns out my girls are free range after all. They have a shed coop with an automatic pop door with a light sensor. Around that I put some electric fencing around a big Bradford pear tree for their "run". We are only here on weekends so Mon-Thurs they are on their own. When we got here this weekend the girls are just flying over the fences and exploring the yard, going back to the coop to lay, then wandering some more. Friday one of my dogs chased one of the hens over the fence into the neighbors yard. Sat morning she was back with the gang. Seems like they know where home is so I'm glad they take advantage of the extra space!

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

Well, I WAS getting 4 eggs a day. Today only 2? The Ply Rocks, I am not too sure what is going on with those girls…They're 3-4yrs old?
Dropping to about 40 tonight. Have Hen hutch out, lined with hay.
FINALLY, cut down on the arguing about the one box. Grabbed upset One, stuck her in other small pet carrier with hay, NOW, less noise/ARGUMENT about whose turn it is, eggs in both.
the Wht Turkey free on CL didn't c/b. Wild Turkeys have been around. The orig 7 chicks are down to 4 now.
A few days ago i was working in Bldg pad, had all the hens scooting around, wondering what I was up to……'Oo, there's a bug, too!'

Found some bugs for them, but they turned their noses up….Some People's CHICKENS! HMP!!

 

[QueenBubbles]

I have questions about training my girls to use nest boxes. My older girls are 20 weeks, have very red faces but still aren't squatting when I put my hand on their backs - they just squawk and run off. They don't seem interested in any of my nest box offerings, either.
I put a box with straw in the little run under the coop where they hang out waiting for me to let them out in the morning. They haven't touched it. So the other day I put another box with straw under the tree where they hang out in the morning. I collected my Brahma's downy feathers from her molt and put them on top of the straw. All the girls were quite fascinated by this and checked it out when I left. The next day all the straw and feathers had been scratched out of the box and the littles were dozing on the straw and the biggies dozed further out.
Their free range area isn't so big I won't be able to find the eggs, it's just I feel like I should be providing nest boxes. Will they start making nests (beyond the shallow resting indents they make now) when they get ready to lay eggs?

 

[CapitalChickens]

I have questions about training my girls to use nest boxes. My older girls are 20 weeks, have very red faces but still aren't squatting when I put my hand on their backs - they just squawk and run off. They don't seem interested in any of my nest box offerings, either.
I put a box with straw in the little run under the coop where they hang out waiting for me to let them out in the morning. They haven't touched it. So the other day I put another box with straw under the tree where they hang out in the morning. I collected my Brahma's downy feathers from her molt and put them on top of the straw. All the girls were quite fascinated by this and checked it out when I left. The next day all the straw and feathers had been scratched out of the box and the littles were dozing on the straw and the biggies dozed further out.
Their free range area isn't so big I won't be able to find the eggs, it's just I feel like I should be providing nest boxes. Will they start making nests (beyond the shallow resting indents they make now) when they get ready to lay eggs?

I have all these same questions! looking forward to people's responses.

 

[lazy gardener]

When you see the girls squatting, when you hear the egg song, you might want to confine them to the run until they produce eggs. You can also put golf balls, wooden eggs, or even real eggs in the nest boxes. IMO, better to spend a while training them right, because once bad egg habits begin, they're hard to break. Once you have one or 2 girls laying in the nest boxes, the rest will follow suit. Do you want them laying under the coop? I don't know what your set up is or how many girls you have. But, I'd recommend only providing nest boxes where you want them to lay, that's assuming that the spot is accessible and not a high traffic area (chickens like hidden and cozy).

 

[gander007]

I have questions about training my girls to use nest boxes. My older girls are 20 weeks, have very red faces but still aren't squatting when I put my hand on their backs - they just squawk and run off. They don't seem interested in any of my nest box offerings, either.
I put a box with straw in the little run under the coop where they hang out waiting for me to let them out in the morning. They haven't touched it. So the other day I put another box with straw under the tree where they hang out in the morning. I collected my Brahma's downy feathers from her molt and put them on top of the straw. All the girls were quite fascinated by this and checked it out when I left. The next day all the straw and feathers had been scratched out of the box and the littles were dozing on the straw and the biggies dozed further out.
Their free range area isn't so big I won't be able to find the eggs, it's just I feel like I should be providing nest boxes. Will they start making nests (beyond the shallow resting indents they make now) when they get ready to lay eggs?

20 weeks is a bit early and yes I have had some go broody in 20 weeks but that is not the norm so I would not really expect much till 30 weeks and in most cases you will find the egg's just laying in the yard at first as the young lady's haven't any idea what is going on and you also need to have a fake egg in the nest to couch them in to the nest ...