Question about free ranging and dealing with neighbors

[mrsgibber]

Hi. I am a soon to be chicken owner and I really want to allow then to free range during the day. I wonder how difficult it is to "train" a chicken to stay within a certain perimeter...in other words...keep them in our yard vs. wandering off into the neighbors yards. I work during the day so I was originally thinking of only letting them free range on the days I'm home so I can keep an eye on them for both this reason and potential predators. Any thoughts? Thank you.

 

[jacyjones]

You will need fencing to stop them going anywhere they are not allowed. chickens are not trainable in that way so if they are not to go on your neighbour's land then you will need a wire fence to stop them. they also can fly/jump quite high unless their wings are clipped.

 

[bluey]

I don't think that's really possible. I have 10 acres and mine free range on about 2+ acres. They wander quite a bit and will go wherever the foraging is good.

I think you'd need a physical barrier to absolutely prevent them from wandering on a neighbor's property.

 

[bluey]

oh, i just noticed...

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Mrsgibber...

I have a neighbor who lets her chickens freerange while she is away at work. I've seen her chickens in one of her next door neighbor's flower garden. Don't know how that neighbor felt about that. The chickens' owner also told me that she has lost several to predators when they decide to wander into the wooded area next to her house. I've also seen some neighborhood cats staking out the chickens as they're out and about during the day.

My chickens are perfectly happy in their little chicken run. I don't think I would ever feel safe letting them roam my yard because there is just too much that can happen to them. We had to cover our run with bird netting because a hawk decided to try to get some free fast food from our yard. Thank goodness I was home when it happened and heard my roo sounding the alarm or I never would have know that danger was there.

Best wishes to you with your chickens!

 

[speckledhen]

I fenced off a 2 acre section of my property, that includes all the outbuildings, coops and my house. The driveway is gated. I have on wanderer who will go down the street if I'd let her--I call her Dora the Explorer, though her name is Ginger, LOL. The nextdoor neighbors have a dog they allow to run loose, as do others around me, so we put up the fence (U-posts and welded wire, with most being in livestock fencing). It's for my girls' protection from wandering predators as well as to keep them off the neighbor's property. You cant train them to stay put, just cant be done, IMO.

 

[LynneP]

One of our neighbors recently got 12 hens after checking with his nearest neighbor to see if they minded the free-ranging which they didn't. But the thing is, his hens were largely massacred by the neighbour's dogs. So, I mean, the wandering might not be the entire problem. My girls have a roofed run and are very content, still laying after 3 major storms and I *have* all of them...

 

[mrsgibber]

THank you all so much. I agree I'd feel much more comfortable with a fenced in run. I can always let them be a bit freer when I am actually out with them on the weekends.

 

[peeboo]

I free range my hens but i dont have a fence. so i went from neighbor to neighbor to neighbor bribing them w/ wonderful chicken information, about eating their bugs and what have you and that they're friendly and i gave each neighbor a few eggs. i am lucky since they dont mind and even feed my ladies from time to time. hopefully if you dont have a fence you can have decent neighbors

 

[dancesWchickens]

I think it depends on your yard. My chickens are completely uncaged in the backyard; they all went over the fences when they were younger, but learned pretty quickly that "outside yard" = "scary" so they stay in the yard all the time now. Of course, my yard is dog-proof. I'm on really good terms with the neighbors and share eggs with them too. I've got pix of my setup on my member page if you are interested.