letting chickens run free?

[LaSombra]

Quote:
I keep mine in a pen because of the hawks/eagles. I'm not so worried about the ground predators during the day... besides my own cats, anyway.

At night, coyotes are a major problem around here. I have to lock up my cats at night because of them. Am I near a city? not at all. My town's population is about 700 and I don't even live within the city limits there. I drive over a 1/2 hour to get to a minor city.

Some friends of mine raise chickens and sell eggs/chicks/broilers. They had to put mesh over their pens because an eagle was stealing a chicken each day. Owls were getting their silkies, too. They live even further away from any cities. I've got mesh over my pen because of that.

 

[kezabel]

depends where you live I think, Do you have many preditors in the area Foxes hawks eagles ect or are you in the suburbs with a secure fenced yard? I am in the suburbs with a secured fenced yard, My 4 bantam hens free range all day I let them out at 7:30 am and close the coop at 5pm(they are usaully in the coop by then roosting) We don't have many preditors around here though. I think that chickens are more prown to being attacked at night when they are docile and sleeping, cause in the day our chickens seem to be very alert and sus out any noise or anything that flys over head. My cat doesn't bother them and neither do the neighbours cats, actually one of ours is an attack bantam and she chases our cat around the yard, if a pigeion lands to try and eat their food she chases them too. We've had them a year now with no casualtys, so I say give it a go if your yard is secure.

 

[slewfoot100]

Ours are 7weeks old and we have been letting them out since they were 3 weeks old. We won't let them out unless one of us are with them and for the most part they come when we yell and they haven't ranged far from us. No fence to hold them in and they really don't want to be far from us when they are out. If it's 8 hours free ranging or only 2 hours in the late afternoon. They look forward it and it's fun for us to watch them eatting grass and clover. Around 7:30 they will peck their way back toward the coop. We can go inside the coop and yell and they will come running. ( hint...From the start I have never yelled for them unless I have a treat for them. They know they will get something when I yell) Easy to put up.

 

[LaSombra]

no, not in the suburbs. I'm way out in the country. I live on 5 acres and our neighbors are a 100 acre christmas tree farm, a lake/river that curves around two sides and the neighbors at the end of our long driveway

 

[YellaDog]

Must depend on a lot of things. We have coyotes, sounds as if they are just passing by, the howling comes closer and keeps on going by out in the woods somewhere. They just don't come anywhere near the house. There are also hawks and owls, again never near our home.
Maybe it has to do with the gazillion rabbits, field mice, barn rats, snakes, shrews, moles, chipmunks, squirrels ? Predators probably don't want to face 4 dogs to....maybe get a chicken. Small mammals are not in short supply.
The only real farming around here is hay fields, maybe that's another reason we have so many small mammals.

 

[YellaDog]

It is GREAT fun to watch chickens do what chickens do. The best is seeing one going after a low flying bug...you usually can't see the bug...just a chicken zig-zagging, running as fast as she can.
I could never keep them in a pen, they love it too much.

 

[Tweeza]

Quote:
LOL, thanks for putting where you're from. At first I thought you had some mighty strange chickens. Mine don't go in until after 9 pm. So, how's the weather down there?

 

[shawnm2639]

My two cents...I live in the country and am surrounded by woods and a river. I used to let my birdy birds out when I got home at night and sat with them for a couple of hours to stave off possible airel attacks from the time they were 10 wks until they got used to diving for cover (14wks) and grew big nuf I felt they wouldn't be easily swept up. During that period on weekend I let them out most of the day and kept an eye. Now they are 20 weeks and I let them out when I leave for work and put them up when I go to bed at 8pm. I know this will give some heart palpations...but I have happy healthy Barr Rocks...of course some of the smaller breeds may need more survallience (scueezy on the spelling) I have two roos and 8 hens. Not a big flock but I think it depends a whole lot on where, when, how many and why (you want to) when makeing these sort of decisions.

I Just keep the best in mind when thinking of critters depending on me for sustance.

 

[gritsar]

As some of you know, we lost our dog to cancer this past week. We are dog-less for the first time in many years. When Charlie was alive she would walk around the chicken's usual "stomping grounds" and pee alot. Never had a problem with the coyotes that are here on this farm coming anywhere near the house area of the farm.
We're getting our new puppy today. The first thing I'm going to do with him is take him around the house/barn/coop area and let him pee to his heart's content.
Argue with me all you want, but in all the years my DH's family has lived here there's always been dogs and the coyotes stay at the far end of the farm.
ETA: In our situation I've never clipped their wings and even though my rooster has finally gotten respectable size spurs my DH refuses to let me trim them. We won't be trimming them until they grow so long that they will become a problem for him if we don't. Those two things, wings and spurs, are a chicken's natural defenses and as free range birds I believe it's important to allow them to keep them.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I live out in the middle of the woods. Over 10 miles from the nearest town. I let my chicks free range a few hrs a day -- and I don't sit there and watch them the whole time either. Anything older than 2 months gets put in the coop and comes and goes with the adults. I have only had fox get my chickens twice over the years. That is when one got out and didn't roost in a tree, she laid on the ground by the door and that is when the fox gets mine....If they roost in a tree, nothing happens to them. Never had a hawk or owl get any. My biggest predator are my own dogs.