Next step to free ranging....

[JodyJo]

I have 16...they free range all day whether I am there or not...I make sure I am home to lock their run in the evenings, or someone else stops by if I am not home to do it....they know where to run and hide if they need to do so...they have shelter and food...they are fine.

If your dog is locked up and there are no strays, which can happen at any time, I realize....if you are comfortable, then let them out!

 

[porkchop48]

Day number one of all day ranging went well. ( knock on wood)

Alot of them made it down into the fields and looks like they were having a blast running through the taller grass catching bugs.

Today it is suppose to be 70ish. I would hate to be locked up all day in that kind of weather myself.

Now if the molting would stop and they would get back to egg laying I would be a happy camper.

 

[Kansaseq]

I have a huge, covered run that they have 24/7 access to. It's large enough that I don't feel bad if they can't get out to range in my acre, fenced- in yard (which they spend 8 hrs in daily, in nice weather).

 

[Johnboy78]

I have 8, assorted, 21 weeks today, my first flock.
Outdoors at 6 weeks, running loose at 8.
They range all day, first one up lets them out.
Yard is 1/4 acre suburban Long Island, deck, landscaping, fenced.
My dogs are in and out of the yard, they coexist well.
Only real threat here are hawks, I've seen them get swooped twice.
They reacted faster than I did.
Probably has happened other times as well.
I leave to go shopping, go out. They go to bed at sundown.
I lock the run sometime after dark.
If we go out I lock it when we get home.

Most of the time they hang out under bushes and shrubs,
they seem to prefer not to be very exposed, although they do graze the lawn.
In heavy rain they go to the run which is fairly small, and stay under the coop.
(Or they hang out by the back door under the overhang)
When it lightens up they go out and scratch around under bushes,
they don't let light rain stop them.

I wouldn't want to lose any but I might. They aren't pets like the dogs.
They are creatures of the outdoors, even in a backyard.
They need the dirt and the weeds and the bugs and the hidey places in the bushes.
Just my opinion.

 

[gryeyes]

I have just under two-thirds of an acre, and it's fenced with five-foot tall "no climb" welded wire fencing. My flock ranges freely within this perimeter. The auto door opens, they let themselves out. They put themselves back into the coop at night and the auto door closes. I leave for work before dawn and get home after dark.

I wake up the poor things by turning on the overhead florescent light when I enter the coop (it's a transmogrified garage, 17 X 20) to fill feeders and waterers and check on everybody.

Yes, I lost a young pullet to a hawk, but she had found a hole in the fence and gone into the property behind mine. No flock protection. A rooster (one of many, unnamed and destined for a friend's Freezer Camp) apparently didn't survive an encounter with something which dragged it into a storm drain; I found the carcass some time later.

And those are all the losses I have suffered from free range operations in a rural, foothills location. I do see hawks; so do the roosters and geese and they call out warnings. Everybody either freezes or dashes for cover, depending on the situations.

The flock is very happy and healthy. I am happy with my decision to let them range freely.

 

[rarely bored]

There are many different reasons for free ranging. Being in the California foothills, I do like to allow the chickens to free range for tick control. We do have lyme disease here, and probably other tick diseases, which our modern day medical industry is divided on how to diagnosis and treat, with many infected people falling through the cracks. Personally I'd rather lose a few chickens to a predator than lose a friend to lyme disease which they were caught at my place.

So far I have lost a few chickens to foxes, but the worst predator has been the nighbors dog. Thankfully the neighbor is willing to pay for damages caused by her dogs, and she has, and the dogs are now kept penned up.

 

[Farm_Maven]

Mine are in a large coop and run, and I let them free range when I can be there to supervise. It's not predators I am most worried about, i know Mylo would do his job in that area. My concern is the road. We have people here who will swerve to HIT an animal.

 

[NickyPick]

I have a flock of 14 - 12 pullets and 2 cockerels. Their coop and run is between the barn and the horse's pen. Since Labor day, I've been letting them out in the afternoon's when I get home (around 3:30 pm) to range about in the horse's pens, which gives them a little over an acre. As always, the first thing they do is gather at the water trough to get their assignments:

Then, they spend the afternoon running around the pen, scratching up every manure pile into oblivion. I'm toying with the idea of letting them have all day, but I do want to make sure they come to the coop to lay their eggs. We're averaging about 8 eggs a day.

I have noticed that when it starts getting to dusk, they start gathering back in the run - and eat their layer food before going into the coop for the night. I used to go out at dusk with treats to call them all into the coop, but lately, I've been waiting until just dark and they're all up on the roost, ready for bed. It's been very nice and hassle free!

 

[pawsplus]

Mine don't free range and they never will. They are confined to their huge run for the same reason my dogs have a fenced yard and the house, my cats are confined to the house, and my horses have fenced pastures--I love them and believe it's my job to protect them from harm (both human caused and "natural"). It's also my job to provide them w/ the best possible living situation, given the necessity of confinement, which is why MY version of "chicken math" is the opposite of most folks

: I have 200 SF of run and 40 SF of coop, and 4 chickens. I take habitat enrichment very seriously and am always improving their home. They have perches and toys and treats and all sorts of stuff to keep them busy, and I don't for a moment believe that they would be happier free ranging. They just wouldn't live as long.

Folks do things differently. Just wanted to add a voice from the responsible confinement sector.

 

[BitsyB]

Mine free range from dawn to dusk, whether I'm here or not. But it's only a quarter acre, fenced in, with lots of shrubs and gardens to hide in. The worst predator is hawks, so when the girls hear the blue jays and/or crows do their warning calls, they go for cover.

NickyPick- what kind of chicken is the one on the left in your picture, thats drinking the water? He (she?) is beautiful!