Part Time Free Ranging Advice

[Molpet]

I feed 2x a day and give last feeding in the run when I want them to come in...

 

[Birdinhand]

...Currently, we're gonna stay out with the chickies until I feel more safe about letting them range. Maybe I'm overprotective however, I can't lose one of my girls this early in the game!

unfortunately the amount of time that goes by without a pest issue does not correlate to the risk of attack. it typically happens out of the blue, maybe on day 152 or 375 or day 801, but typically once the pest is successful they are more persistent from that time onward. if you free range, you need to accept that at some point, you will lose some. a door with a timer helps, that and a well fortified roost. good luck, I wish we could free range, but we have too many hungry critters around us, even here in suburbia.