New chicken owner in love with the free range method

[fishin_dad]

I purchased a few chicks from TSC about a year ago. I started with 3 RIR, 3 GLW, and 3 Gold sex link hens and a GLW roo. A fox got my roo and a couple of my hens. I since have purchased a SLW roo and he is gorgeous. I also have 2 Min Pins and a Weimaraner, and will soon be getting a couple of goats. I am experimenting with some cross breeding but really like the wyandotte breed.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC. I hope that you enjoy your time here.

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens fishin-dad - it very nice to have you join us. Goats are a whole lot of fun to watch when they belong to someone else. They do get into mischief and appear to have boundless energy. Wish I did.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Glad to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[gtaus]

Welcome to the BYC forums

What do you love about the Free Range method? It appears you already lost 3 chickens to predation. Where I live, we have heavy predation from eagles and hawks. So from the beginning I have kept my chickens in a chicken run with a bird netting cover. People around here that try to free range their chickens are soon called former chicken owners.

I have 3 acres on a lake, and if not for predator concerns, I would like to have my girls running around the property eating everything they could find. But, since I can't free range my birds without expected losses, I have to settle for cutting and bagging grass clippings and feeding them to the chickens in the chicken run. it is my attempt to bring the range to them in their not-so-free, but protected, chicken run.

 

[Perris]

hello @fishin_dad ! welcome to BYC
I love free ranging too - far more pros than cons in my experience.

 

[fishin_dad]

Welcome to the BYC forums

What do you love about the Free Range method? It appears you already lost 3 chickens to predation. Where I live, we have heavy predation from eagles and hawks. So from the beginning I have kept my chickens in a chicken run with a bird netting cover. People around here that try to free range their chickens are soon called former chicken owners.

I have 3 acres on a lake, and if not for predator concerns, I would like to have my girls running around the property eating everything they could find. But, since I can't free range my birds without expected losses, I have to settle for cutting and bagging grass clippings and feeding them to the chickens in the chicken run. it is my attempt to bring the range to them in their not-so-free, but protected, chicken run.

I have since fenced in 2 acres around the house and the weimaraner keeps most everything out and does not bother the chickens

 

[N F C]

Hello, make yourself at home here and thanks for joining!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

So glad you decided to join our community!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I rely on electric fencing to keep ground predators at bay.