Keeping Chickens Free Range

[birdlady79]

Here's a few of mine free ranging..... They hang around coop near dusk... During the day they hang out in the back 40 underneath my DH's enclosed trailer..... They like roosting on the axels.... Lol. I'm doing the egg countdown and I hope they don't decide to lay underneath the trailer

 

[Melnurse]

Like this thread!
We are very new to raising chickens, have barely an acre, most of which is the house and a bit of lake front yard. We have a little coop for our four girls (1 Wyandotte, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Easter Egger), and then an open, but fenced in area bout 20 feet by 15 feet where part of our compost pile is and grass, dirt, etc. They seem to be very happy in their area, a few have hopped over the fence into our back yard and we've had to scoot 'em back over but they haven't done that in a while. We had our first egg on Tuesday and today is day 5 (one Orpington) - so we have a total of 5 eggs from one chicken who is just no a little over 19 weeks old. Soon, we'll have 4 eggs/day and I can stop buying eggs from our local organic farmer (which we love to support). I look so forward to them running up to me every day to eat the dried worms from my hand and then begin to scratch around.

We do have Eagles, Coopers Hawks, raccoons and the girls scoot into their coop whenever anything bigger than a crow flies overhead. The open area is near cedars that overhang, so I don't think the big birds will get close. We lock them up in their coop at night where they all end up around 8pm, letting them out in the morning around 8:00 am. I sure hope we're not nieve in thinking the Eagle won't come and try to take them. We've grown quite fond of them.

I have yet to see one eat a slug... does anyone know if they will eat a slug? I sure wish they would!
Mel

 

[fancychick1]

Today I added 8 more babies to my family and they are soooooo cute.

 

[QueenBubbles]

I saw a video about introducing chickens to slug eating - cut them in pieces so they can see and taste the gooey insides using garden shears. Good luck!

 

[jasmine5904]

I'm pretty sure mine eat slugs - before we got chickens, we used to have an awful slug problem. I have hostas in my flower bed, and the slugs would devour them! They're much prettier now that we've been free ranging our little chickies!

We have seven 6-week-old BO chicks that free range our suburban backyard. They're kept in by our 6 foot privacy fence, so I guess they're not technically free range, but I let them out of their chicken tractor in the mornings and they put themselves to bed at night. We have several large trees and bushes for cover and shade, and lots of leaves for them to scratch around in! And all the bugs and weeds they can eat!

 

[jasmine5904]

They're definitely all lap chickens! The sweetest one of the bunch will even try to dust bathe in my lap! It doesn't work out for her very well, but it is pretty adorable.

 

[moneymoneyric]

We have so many predators, the more wild breeds last long enough to breed.

 

[GardenLady03]

Hi! First time chicken owner here. I've had my girls for about a week. I plan on building them a run but for right now I want to let them free range. I'm scared they will get eaten or wander off. Opinion time! Should I let them out?

 

[moneymoneyric]

Get some Egyptian

 

[lazy gardener]

I free range my flock when I'm home. When I'm getting ready to go some where, I go out with a quart of scratch and shake it around, and call them. They come running from every direction of my property. It usually takes about 5 minutes to round up all of the stragglers. (there are 33 of them, but after the summer freezer camp, there will be 14 hens/pullets and one rooster) They have plenty of jobs to do: turn my leaf pile, clean out the many ant nests, both in the ground, as well as the ones in my mulch hay before it gets spread in the garden, clean up the slugs, snails, and any other bugs that happen to show themselves, and of course work on keeping my yard weed free and fertile. My flower beds look pretty sorry, with mulch spread on the lawn. The garden is surrounded with deer netting which can't be seen unless you're standing right next to it. The chickens are totally perplexed by it. The girls are shut in a 1600 s.f. electronet run when i'm not home, and locked in their 2 level hoop coop at night. (pine chips in the loft, hay, leaves, and grass clipping DL in the lower level. Pretty much odor free. This is the second summer with the flock, (started with 5 keepers) and already, I've noticed less insect problem in my yard and garden. Again, this year, when i harvest my garden, they will be turned loose there until the ground freezes. BTW, scratch is a great tool for directing your flock where you want them to work in your yard. Just sprinkle it on the area to be weeded/de-bugged/tilled. They will make a bee line for that spot when you let them out every morning. They get FF morning and afternoon, which most likely will be cut back some when the meat birds are harvested to force the layers to be more active foragers. The older girls would rather be foraging than eating FF, the youngsters have a learning curve.