Now really what is FREE RANGING?

[Portia]

I had read somewhere that chickens generally stay within a few hundred yards of their coop; I believe I read this in relation to food placement for range feeders.

 

[Appytaz]

My herd free range our 2 acres. They choose to sleep in the big tree out front over their coop. We do not have any natural predators for them to worry with so they are all safe and happy. they stay on our property most of the time. They do like to visit the grumpy old man's yard next door (which I sit and giggle over whenever I see them there)

 

[ChickaD]

When I'm home I'm back to free ranging our chickens (kept them in temporarily after coyote and hawk attacks) - for us, that means our whole roomy yard, with natural fences like tall weed borders or a swamp, creek. They return to their coop to lay eggs or to grab a bite of food, as we don't feed them outside - water only) , and return to roost at dusk. They are so much happier outside and love to see what project I'm doing - real little buddies! Their egg production goes way up when they're free, and yes, we do have an enclosed run as well, but it's not as exciting. Our gals are 4-6 yrs old and still laying regularly, 2-4 eggs per day...I'm surprised!

 

[clawmute]

Free ranging would be nice but Coyotes here would make short work of our fowls. It's not really practical if you have a high predator poulation, including free roaming dogs.

 

[ChickaD]

For sure, some (many?) locations just won't work for free ranging...we've gone both ways with it here, wanting happy productive hens, but not providing free meals for the coyotes, etc. (that was the only one we've seen and we're hoping it was a fluke

). One other factor we considered for our situation is that the chickens eat plenty of ticks...so we haven't found them on our pets this year, a huge improvement.

 

[cmom]

My birds have a fenced in area for ranging. Originally I let them free range but they destroyed my gardens.

 

[Portia]

Since we live in the woods with only the area around our house cleared, there are plenty of predators. My 2 dogs have free range of the fenced yard (the reason the yard is really fenced), the chickens also free range in this same area. Since the dogs wander the fence line and mark frequently, I think this has kept most of the predators at bay. The dogs have a door to go in/out of the house at their leisure; we have seen them tear out of the house more than once in hot pursuit of something out in the woods. So far we haven't lost any chickens, but I know our day will come.

 

[gritsar]

Technically my chickens have 80 acres to free-range on. In reality I've never found them further than about five acres away from their coop. On that occasion I gently herded them back towards their coop because they were headed in the direction of our neighbors house and they are commercial chicken farmers. You don't even want to know what kind of uproar that would have caused.

They've been going out since they were less than a month old (first w/lots of supervision, now with much less) they've always known where home base was. I did have a problem when we moved the location of their home. They insisted on going back to their old one. It took almost two weeks of being locked in the new coop for them to get the message. Like Portia, I know the day will come when I'll lose some to predators but they've had a great life.
P.S. My hens have so far been great about leaving the free-ranging and going back to the coop to lay their egg, so I'm counting my blessings.

 

[americana-chick]

my chickens have a choice, stay in the 24*24 pen with grass, wooded area, dust bathing pits, heated and cooled chicken coop, sun bathing areas, places to jump up on, and etc. or go out in the yard where the dogs get out, cats are wild, and lots of foxes and hawks around. my chickens pick the safer place. they can get out if they want though, they can either fly over or squeeze through the fence but they never do get out. only once did my crazy BR roo jump the fence because the other roo was chasing him. he just jumped right back over once he realized what he did. and adventually i will make the pen even bigger to where it basicly is free ranging if you dont call my pen free ranging.

 

[Maryallison77]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who responded!!! I am understanding now!

I think for now my girls are staying in the coop. I just worry about neighbor dogs where I live. Maybe when I get the rest of my 5 acres fenced I can let them out. I'd love to have them following me around the yard when everything seems safe enough.

Thanks!