Paranoid about free ranging

[ecocheapomom]

I have been leaving our run open since we got our pullets settled into the coop about two weeks ago, but it is just now that they are starting to venture way out into the yard. I am finding myself constantly going out to check on them and do a head count. I feel like octomom. Today they started heading towards the woods and I was a wreck. We have a fox den just a short ways away into the woods and they killed two of our neighbors chickens earlier this spring. I am so worried about our girls, but they LOVE to get out and about. I hate to have to keep them in the run all the time. Is it worth the risk??? Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[NC Chicken Gal]

I feel your pain, I am the same way with my chickens. I even went and bought 75 feet of plastic poultry fencing and put it around their coop, grape vine and run to let them out some....silly me, thinking a little plastic fence can keep them in

I guess i thas gelped ease my mind some though, so it was worth it. It was my cats I was worried about, but they seem to be alright......so far

 

[cafarmgirl]

Whether or not it's worth it will depend on how upset you will be when predators discover your chickens. With free ranging it's not a matter of if but when you will loose some, or all, to predators. Many people consider this the trade off for free ranging, they accept the fact that they will occasionally loose a chicken.

A large flock can handle a few losses but a small flock can be decimated in a day. And a den of foxes nearby? I hate to say it but you are pretty much setting the table for them.

Personally, I get too attached to my girls and I only have 8, therefore they have a coop and a large grassy run in a corner of my goat pasture and they are completely happy there.

So good luck! Hope you are able to come to a conclusion that makes both you and your chickens happy!

 

[SC_Hugh]

Only 4 chickens for me, so losing one would amount to too much loss. I let them range in the dog yard for an hour before dark, it is 20'x60' with 4' fencing. I sit and watch them, pull weeds, help them find stashes of bugs.

I am building a chicken tractor for them to be safe in the bigger backyard, but I have too many predators (including my own dogs and cats) to leave anything to chance...

--Hugh

p.s. My dogs never liked be penned up in the smaller dog yard, but now that the chicken coop and run are in there, they love to lay around in there and watch the chickens doing next to nothing.

 

[DonnaBelle]

We put up electric fencing, no problems at all with predators. We let them out about 7:00 am, lock them in the coop at night.

Electric fencing is so easy to install, and repels dogs, all kinds of predators and keeps the chickens in.

I ordered mine from Kencove. www.kencove.com, they were really nice to deal with and I do not hesitate to recommend them.

DonnaBelle

 

[wohneli]

In a quick search of google I found multiple sites that say foxes are nocturnal unless there is a shortage of food. Maybe do a google search and research foxes.

 

[ecocheapomom]

As always, you are all so wise! With only 8 ladies in our flock, a loss would be significant. When the foxes hit our neighbors it was very early in the spring and everyone said it was because food was short and they were trying to feed their young. I will look into the fencing which may come into play if I get my wish and we venture into goats. From what I have read on here, many people have their chickens and goats share space.

 

[ivan3]

Foxes are primarily nocturnal but every attack here and at our neighbors has been between 3-6pm.

Build them a bigger run and only free range them when you are out (pref. armed) to keep an eye out for them otherwise it will be akin to running a KFC where the girls are served up alive and screaming.

 

[Judy]

My fox attacks occurred anywhere between 10 AM and 6 PM. The two I witnessed were around 10-11 AM. They have plenty of wild food here -- rabbits, mice, you name it. The chickens were easy.

Most on here would probably take out the fox den, or not free range.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I know exactly how you feel. But I felt so bad keeping my girls cooped up in a dirt floor run when there were so many yummy bugs out there to be had! So...

What I've just started to do is let them free-range in the evening about an hour and a half before dark. They're quite trained actually. I only have 6 laying hens and two little week old chicks so it's been pretty easy to do. I douse myself with Avon's Skin So Soft and sit in a chair outside with a good book while they range. They never go too far and I keep my eyes on them really good. When it's time for them to go back into the run, I have a long stick and I walk behind them clucking "come on mamas, back in with you". They're quite funny, snatching grass and bugs as they make their way back to the pen because they know that time is up and they have to get ready to go to roost.

I try to do this every day, but some days I just can't. I feel better knowing that at least they get some time outside even if it's not full time. They don't really know the difference anyway.