Question about free-rangeing

[RebelFord81]

What time of day does everyone let their hens out. I have 5 adult hens and 9 4 month old pullts that I have been letting out a little bit at a time and they're doing well. I don't typically let anybody out until 4/5. Is that too late in the day? Should I just let them out and leave the door open? I'm literally home all day.

 

[Mrs. K]

The words 'free ranging' have totally different meanings, depending on your own personal set up. Some people consider free ranging letting them out on the back yard. Where as mine is thousands of acres of pasture land.

And what you consider free ranging will also be considered by your predators.

I have lost over the years, a lot of birds to free ranging. Sometimes I don't go down early in the morning, just so I won't be tempted to let them out.

Do KNOW in your BONES - they always get your favorite bird.

My rule of thumb:

• Don't let them out every day
• don't let them out at the same time
• don't let them out if rainy, cloudy or windy - this gives advantages to the predators
• don't let them out AT ALL if you have been hit by a predator, predators come back

Always have enough space in the coop/run to fit the flock YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW. Do not think that free ranging for a couple of hours can make up for too tight of coop/run.

Mrs K

 

[Red Mangrove]

Mine sleep in the trees and they usually fly down at dawn. They're completely safe living outside totally free 24/7 on my forested homestead

 

[DobieLover]

Mine go out at dawn or whenever they come off the roost. But they are confined to a 1/3 acre pen, not free ranged.
You being home all day isn't going to stop a predator attack though. You'd just be there to deal with the aftermath sooner.

 

[Perris]

mine are out dawn till dusk, and there are no fences here. Having roos helps deter predators I think; the flock also gets better at evading them with practice of course.

Most of their free range space is wooded we have 8 acres and 6 is wooded minus what is around the house.

Your flock is likely to enjoy the woods but won't venture far unless it is a barren monoculture of e.g. pines and they have to go far to find decent forage. If it's mixed broadleaf woodland with understorey they will love it, and be difficult for predators to find. Offer them food that they like at tea time to encourage them to come home promptly to roost until good habits are formed. It also helps to train them to come on call (with mealworms or something similar that they'll come running for) for those occasions when you want to lock them up early.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Is that too late in the day? Should I just let them out and leave the door open? I'm literally home all day.

I used to let mine out at dawn.. to "free range" the property.. but I ended up with a LOT of hidden nests under blackberry thorned bushes which skirt my entire property.. especially during the long nice days of summer.

Now I have am enclosed run.. and only allow free range time (outside of that) in the evenings.

Letting them out only for a short period before dusk.. keeps them closer to home.. not hopping the fence to the neighbors, etc.

I have lost a (broody's) chick here or there to aerial predators.. and had to go on lock down until the pressure was gone (hawk realized the buffet was closed and moved on to easier picking)..

All that basically to say.. that for me it's adaptive.. to time of year (soon it will be dark at 5), predator load, weather pattern, etc.. there's no truly right answer.. just whatever works for you at the time.. Hidden nests.. is my number one reason not to free range all day.. but when I lived in the city and didn't have an acre of blackberries.. that wasn't my issue.. so adapting to your set up, environment, etc.. and figuring out the ins and outs of YOUR flock natter.. My example.. it was a specific EE that would ALWAYS be searching for the new place to lay.. IF she thought the other nest was being raided due to daily egg collection (fake eggs help show the nest is safe).. but also due to her place in the pecking order. Other hens would notice.. then it was monkey see chicken do. It was a (different) EE and a Leghorn that always wanted to go over the fence to the neighbors.. a wing clipping stopped that (ground predators are not my issue INSIDE my fence).. which I've never had to consider wing clipping on my heavier breed ladies like Orpington or Rock.

Those 4 month olds should be getting closer to laying (depending on breed) and may soon start deciding where they will lay.. When I know I have some coming into lay.. I don't want them to have time to look for a better place.

Oh wait I got another one.. boy do I hate that the birds wanna poop all over my patio and hang out near the back door pooping on everything (during certain hours of the day, their hang out spot changes with the sun/rain).. but also they would come running EVERY time I opened the door or went out back.. which put a lot of pressure on me.. I did make the effort using treats at ONLY a specific time of day.. to teach them to mostly ignore me until the right time.. whatever we do.. animals adapt well to schedules and routines.

One draw back to constantly free ranging.. is then the birds don't know how to act when they are on lock down due to predator load etc.. more pacing and vocal complaining.

Anyways.. I hope this gives you some things to consider..

 

[BarnyardChaos]

It varies. Most days I don't let them free-range on pasture until after 2-3pm, just to be sure the morning chores (eggs) are mostly done in the nesting boxes. I don't want them to find a nice bush or rock pile somewhere to start a clutch. But our predator load is heavy at times, so when I notice the roosters are unusually agitated or watchful, I won't let them out of the run at all some days. Sometimes it's as late as 5-6 pm, or as early as 9-10 am. I keep it varied so the predators don't identify a pattern and lay in wait. Also depends on our outdoor activities. If I plan to be away from the farm for a portion of the day, they don't get to go out until I return, or not at all. Or if I plan to do yard work or be outside most of the day, I'll let them out as early as I am.
Edited to add: I keep an eye on the weather forecast. If any weather event is coming, they stay IN the run.

 

[Red Mangrove]

Curious how your hens raise broody chicks on the ground with so many predators that eat them

Wild Red Junglefowl in Asia only have a clutch survival rate of 32%, so in other words only 1/3 nests survive the three weeks of brooding necessary to hatch a clutch of eggs. That's roughly what it is here when the birds decide to brood more than 50 feet from my house

However the smart birds (that reproduce the most) tend to make nests close to my home where my LGD is always hanging out, which is of course a strong deterrence to predators

Heavy trees + LGD + perimeter fence eliminates virtually all predation. Only a few ballsy racoons and possums still try at night and they go for the birds in the trees, not the stealthy moms on the ground. Then when they do touch a bird in a tree it simply flies away and leaves a confused looking predator behind

Also, most of my chickens are intelligent and semi-feral breeds that avoid predators very easily. One American Gamefowl X Red Junglefowl mother here went broody in the forest beyond my land, and for 3 weeks she sat on eggs hidden in some bushes. I was keeping an eye on her as time went on and the very same night her chicks started to hatch she was hit by a predator, a weasel I believe. At 2 AM she came flying down to my house screaming her head off. I went outside and found every single egg broken and not a chick to be found. I gave them all up for dead, due to her foolishness in making a nest so far from home

The next morning she was pecking around the feed bowl with 9 babies next to her. Evidently despite the predator, she went back into the forest at night and found her babies. Absolutely fantastic mother. I've watched broody game hens here attack foxes before

 

[Chicalina]

You have to decide what is best for you, your location, weather, space, predators, number of birds, make up of your flock, types of birds, ages, forage opportunities, etc.

Mine vary from not at all to all day until they roost.

I've got babies right now and I'm keeping them all in the run for an hour after door open so they fill up on pellets when they are hungry first thing, before they are let out onto the grass, so they don't use grass as their staple diet.

Your situation is probably very different.

 

[mossyoakpro]

I'm fairly new to the chicken keeping extravaganza but I normally let mine out about an hour after daylight every day if the weather cooperates...my house sits in the middle of farm fields so fortunately my land predators will have to come across a lot of open country to get at my flock. I trap every winter so my predator load is pretty low since I keep after them although I do have a fox prowling around at night that I can't seem to catch

When they started laying I kept them penned up a couple days to make sure they were using the coop nest boxes but unfortunately I have 3 that prefer my carport. I did put a milk crate in there for them and they use it every day like clock work. So right now I don't have any "hidden" nests going on that I know of. The run stays open for access to food and water and I have numerous water stations around that gets freshened up every day. When they don't get to go out because of being away or bad weather there is a LOT of whining and general discontent in the coop....LOL

I plan to get a neighbor to open and close the pen and gather eggs for me when I am going to be gone for more than one night although Ted the cockerel will probably be a jerk to a stranger....