Question regarding free range chickens

[jmeeter88]

Say I let my chickens roam my entire property (2 acres). Is that too much room? More specifically, will the chickens get lost or forget where their food and nesting boxes are?

 

[silkiechicken]

We have 7 acres mostly fenced, with the highway being about 300 or so feet down the drive way to the opening where our house is. Free ranged 10 years now without a problem. All go home and most lay in the box with an occasional egg nest in the middle of nowhere.

 

[beckyloveschicks]

My chicken free range on my 1 acre fenced with no problem. There's actually nothing keeping them in the fence since it's livestock fence and only 4ft high (it's mostly for the goats). But for the most part they all stay where I want them too.

 

[keljonma]

When you first move them to the hen house, keep them inside for about a week. When you let them out, they'll know it is a safe haven and return to the hen house.

 

[cmom]

I have an area fenced in off their run. I have had foxes, cayotes, racoons around, and a neighbor who free ranges freely on her property has had several taken during the day by cayotes.

 

[stacym]

My dad has fifty RIR's on ten acres of land. They will come back and roost in their chicken house and they really don't wander too far. (They only use two acres of his land at most) One thing that he does is he doesn't let them out right at the crack of dawn. He lets them go at about noon because otherwise they will lay their eggs elsewhere. Another reason is chickens love to dig, and with fifty they can really dig big,deep holes.
He has raised chickens for 40 years and this works for him. Hope that helps!

 

[jmeeter88]

Thanks everyone for the great responses. :]

 

[Chirpy]

I've got 40 acres and my chickens stay within a few hundred feet of their coop. They always go back to roost in the coop at night.

I agree though, that you need to keep them locked up for at least a week before letting them out so they know exactly where 'home' is.

 

[jmeeter88]

By 'locked up' do you mean restricting their pen to a range of 10 feet around the coop?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Locked up as in keep them in their new coop for about a week or more so they learn it is home.

My chickens are in several coops, some side by side in the barn. One coop has about 16 Cochins and various mixes in it and I let them out with the other coop next to them which is 67 14 week old chicks.
They barely roam an acre but will venture a little farther as the bugs and grasses get eaten. Every night at twilight they all go back to their own coops to roost for the night but I am always down there filling up feeders and watering before dusk to make sure everyone is back safe from their foraging.

I was scared to death when I first let the chicks out but they have been great to stay near their coop and tear into it if a flock of geese or an airplane comes over!