Out to freerange

[gryeyes]

I let mine out around 12 - 14 weeks... and I am not home during the day. Everybody ranges freely. But there is a lot of tree cover for my birds..... as well as several coops they can duck into, because I have a sort of Chicken Compound with multiple coops.

Good luck!

 

[Wildflower_VA]

I have two acres, but about half is woods. Chickens will find a place to go to cover if you have trees and shrubs. My two acres is not even completely fenced, but chickens are noted for having bad eyesight and they never get very far from the coop where their water and feed is located. I think I read in one of the chicken keeping books that a chicken won't go much past 65 feet from "home." I started letting my eight week olds out for much of the day earlier this week and they start out eating grass near the coop, then they go into the woods to a little grove of young saplings and they rest there and occasionally go back out to forage and dig in the leaves for bugs and worms. They have never yet gone more than 50 feet from their coop. When it is getting close to roosting time, I call them and they come back to the coop to eat, drink and sleep. As long as you have some shrubs and trees for cover and as long as you lock them up at night, I think all of your chickens will be fine. The height of your fence probably won't matter, since the chickens can fly, but the fact that they won't go far from the coop should keep them in.

 

[mdbokc]

They'll likely go farther....much farther as they get used to their surroundings. Mine cover almost 4 of my 6 acres and don't think twice about it.

ETA - I also use a 10' piece of 1" PVC pipe to herd them as necessary. One, they see it easily; two, I can reach into brush when they won't come out, it moves them out; third, I can herd them easily as it gives an extra 10' reach on either side of me when moving them back to the coop. And lastly, they learn quickly that the herding pole means it is seriously time to pay attention to me.

 

[zDoc]

Before mine started tearing up my yard and eating my house,

I used to let them out in the yard an hour or two before dark. That way they would put their selves to bed at dusk and all I had to do was pop my head in the coop and get a count.

 

[leah_c]

I have 14, 7 week old chicks and 6, 1 yr. olds. (and 2 5 week old ducks). The chicks have been in their run for 3 weeks and just started this past weekend letting them out to free range. I now let them out in the morning and they stay pretty close to the run and the raspberry patch most of the day. They LOVE it!! Now they all just have to get along.