Keeping Chickens Free Range

[Aphrael]

Sounds almost like you are talking about my place, my birds (except I also have geese) and my predators. I am just north of Coleman, TX. How are you dealing with this cold snap? My birds seem to not even notice, except the duck did want to go back inside their pens earlier than usual. Otherwise you would not even know it was in the 30's.

I'm freezing my buns off is how I'm doing!

The birds don't even notice. They zoomed out as eager as ever and are ranging around looking for goodies and any unfortunate grasshopper who wanders over the "line". (Chicken yard = grasshopper free zone, not-chicken yard = terrifying plague of grasshoppers. Another reason I want to get it all fenced and let them go wild.) They DID raise quite a ruckus this morning because I was later than usual letting them out, because I didn't want to go out in the cold.

I live in a teeny tiny town called Crowell, eighty or so miles from Wichita Falls.

 

[jtn42248]

I'm freezing my buns off is how I'm doing!

The birds don't even notice. They zoomed out as eager as ever and are ranging around looking for goodies and any unfortunate grasshopper who wanders over the "line". (Chicken yard = grasshopper free zone, not-chicken yard = terrifying plague of grasshoppers. Another reason I want to get it all fenced and let them go wild.) They DID raise quite a ruckus this morning because I was later than usual letting them out, because I didn't want to go out in the cold.

I live in a teeny tiny town called Crowell, eighty or so miles from Wichita Falls.

I know Crowell. You are about 150 miles north of me. So you got the cold earlier. As I recall your area is flatter than down here near Coleman so you probably are getting a lot worse winds. Ours have been sustained 20-25 mph all day and that makes the chill factor seem to just cut through you. My chickens could not wait to get out in it though. Even though it looked a lot like little fat ladies with their skirts being blown up. I finally put them back in their run so they would be out of the direct wind and maybe trap enough heat under their feathers to help them stay warm tonight.

 

[Aphrael]

I know Crowell. You are about 150 miles north of me. So you got the cold earlier. As I recall your area is flatter than down here near Coleman so you probably are getting a lot worse winds. Ours have been sustained 20-25 mph all day and that makes the chill factor seem to just cut through you. My chickens could not wait to get out in it though. Even though it looked a lot like little fat ladies with their skirts being blown up. I finally put them back in their run so they would be out of the direct wind and maybe trap enough heat under their feathers to help them stay warm tonight.

Yeah, pretty flat around here and the wind has been awful all day. Lots of wind breaks for the chicks though, so they can stay out of it and still be out and about. Don't think today was very bugalicious for them though. They mobbed me like starving wolves when I took out their evening FF a bit ago. They ALWAYS come running and follow me whenever I come out, cause let's face it.... I have goodies for them more often than not.

But usually they all peck at it a bit and only a few stay to eat. The rest are like "Pffft, I'll eat this later, right now I want BUGS!" Not today! The way they went after it you'd think they hadn't eaten in a week!

With this cold hitting, I'll have to beef up the DL layer some to help generate some extra heat. I know the little coop stays warm enough for them, but I just got the chicken part of the big barn semi finished this summer. So it hasn't had any cold testing yet.

 

[vpatt]

So far my ckickens are doing well in the cooler weather....but it has not been very cold yet. I worry about predators as the weather gets colder.

I hope all of you getting the freezing weather stay warm. We will get it before its over.

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

I'm new to chicken keeping. Today I let my small flock out of their run for the first time. They didn't go to far from the run. I know that they would do real well on my property, but I'm scared of predators.

What tips do you have for me to safely allow my flock to free range? I have 1 rooster and 6 hens. The property is pretty open with very little in the way of trees or other hiding places. They are currently in a coop with an attached run. I'm in Central Florida.

 

[islandgirl82]

I'm new to chicken keeping. Today I let my small flock out of their run for the first time. They didn't go to far from the run. I know that they would do real well on my property, but I'm scared of predators.

What tips do you have for me to safely allow my flock to free range? I have 1 rooster and 6 hens. The property is pretty open with very little in the way of trees or other hiding places. They are currently in a coop with an attached run. I'm in Central Florida.

I haven't used them but am intrigued by the electric poultry netting that allows flocks to have a large area to range, it can be moved around and given you're in FL you wouldn't have to worry so much about taking it down before snow flies. You would still have to worry about aerial predators though so you'd need to provide them with plenty of places to hide. Mine like to hide in my gardens, under benches and we have a lot of tree/shrub cover. They'll also get on or under my porch. Shrubbery is great for them because often times you can get varieties that double as a food source like blueberry bushes.

 

[lazy gardener]

I use electronet, and while I love it, I can't use it between early Nov and mid April due to snow storms. It would be wonderful in areas that weren't plagued by snow. In sandy soil, for that matter, in any soil, I'd recommend the 2 pronged push in posts. If you're not on flat land, you'll need some extra posts to keep the fence from sagging. You can get by with the cheap fiberglass posts sold at any feed store, instead of spending the extra bucks to order extra posts when you buy your fencing. If you put up a few obstacles inside the fencing, that will deter aerial predators.

 

[ChickyChickens]

Whew! I finally made it through every post of this wonderful thread!

I was so happy to find this thread, and have NO idea how I didn't come across it sooner. I free range my birds as well (chickens and ducks). Not as "free" as some people are able to. But they have the run of a HUGE back yard at the moment, and I am working on fencing the rest of our land to let them out into it as well. (We have about 1 acre, total.) We have hawks and some kind of huge vultures or buzzards. The big ones did some flybys a few times when I first started letting my girls and boys out of their runs. But the kids were all very quick to hide under the small coop (up a few feet off the ground), under the porch, or under the gigantic pomegranate bush that they love. No losses so far (knock on wood). Though I am very nervous that there could be when I get the rest of the area fenced and let them onto it. We have seen a pair of foxes in the wee hours of the morning, and there is occasionally a bobcat. But there is SO much forage out there for them, that I want to take advantage of it. The mesquite trees seem to attract ungodly numbers of walking sticks, and the chicks LOVE walking sticks. (I call them chicky french fries.

) There are also lots of ant hills out there still. The ladies LOVE ant eggs as well. There are no longer ants in the chicken yard. Sometimes some will sneak in and set up a hill beneath a water bucket. But they don't last long when I move the bucket and call the chicks. You'd think it was a candy bag!

We have a couple feral cats that I allow to hang around to keep down rodents. They were born under our house and grew up with the chickens, and now seem to think they are as much chicken as cat. They don't bother the chickens at all, even when I've had broody mamas and chicks out with the flock. Sometimes I even see them laying there while the chickens cluster around them pecking at their fur. I think maybe picking fleas? I HAVE seen some big ole' toms come around and try to stalk my birds. But they got a quick and unceremonious introduction to the Snake Charmer (shotgun) and haven't been a problem since.

LOL! Your story sounds very similar to mine...

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[jtn42248]

Here it is 9 a.m. and it is 26 degrees. I got up early to light a fire in the fireplace and it was in the teens outside. When I finally went out to let the chickens out I really expected that they would not want to come. But they almost ran me over when I opened their door. So, chicens, ducks and geese are all out ranging as if it were a nice warm day. They go inside now and then but don't stay long and then right back out. I was all bundled up to keep warm when I let them out and when I opened the goose pen they hissed at me. Guess they did not recognize me.