Letting my chickens free range?!?

[briannanoelle1]

Ok, so we have 6 pullets. 3 Ameraucana's, 2 White Leghorns (19 weeks old) and 1 Rhode Island Red (10 weeks old). We've never let them out of their coop to free range because I'm scared they will fly over the fence. We live in the city so our backyard is not huge, but we were thinking about letting them explore the yard on our days off and then herd them back in the coop with a treat when we're ready to go in the house. What are your thoughts? Should I be worried about them flying over the fence during the day while we're outside watching them? Or should we just play it safe and keep them in their coop?

 

[CluckerCottage]

If your concern is them flying over your fence, clip their flight feathers. Very easy to do. YouTube has some very informative videos on that!
Leghorns WILL fly. I have several of them myself. I think it's great to let them out in your fenced yard for some ranging time.
They will love it and you'll enjoy watching them!

 

[BruceAZ]

Ok, so we have 6 pullets. 3 Ameraucana's, 2 White Leghorns (19 weeks old) and 1 Rhode Island Red (10 weeks old). We've never let them out of their coop to free range because I'm scared they will fly over the fence. We live in the city so our backyard is not huge, but we were thinking about letting them explore the yard on our days off and then herd them back in the coop with a treat when we're ready to go in the house. What are your thoughts? Should I be worried about them flying over the fence during the day while we're outside watching them? Or should we just play it safe and keep them in their coop?

they will not fly anywhere unless was chased by something (for the yard.. just my dog)

also they tend to stick together as a flock

i'll let them out around 6-630 PM so i can clean out the run and coop + refill feeders.

around 7:38PM i'll come back and close up the run ..since they went back in by themselves

if you want to trim your chickens' wings

 

[Faustitas]

One thing to consider is whether or not you have predator birds in your neighborhood.

I once found a fancy pigeon outside my back gate. I took it inside, as its wings were clipped and it was banded, in hopes of finding the owner. I kept it for a few days in a cat carrier at night, and let it out in the morning, and posted signs in the neighborhood. One day I found a neat pile of feathers.

We do have hawks and falcons flying overhead in the mornings here. I don't let my chickens free range unless I'm outside with them, or it's late in the afternoon (I suspect the human activity is what keeps the bird hunting down in the late afternoon/evening, as I've never seen hawks hunting here at that time).

 

[Zamanthia]

We bought some plastic construction fencing to provide our girls free ranging opportunities. They love it! They could easily fly over it, but they do not -- they are too busy chasing down bugs and green stuff. They are funny about how far away from their coop and run they are willing to go though. We made a chicken tunnel to get them on our rear property and they will only go down there if we are with them and then they start inching closer to home within a few minutes.