Should I free range?

[blythspirit]

Umm my chickens can fly... some are really good at it too. you might want to carefully clip 1 wing..there are sites to go to to see how it is done. My girls are in a 10x20' run on grass and such during the day. there is a cattle panel top on it to keep raptors out and to keep my girls from flying the coop.

 

[SA Farm]

My chicken fencing is 6 feet tall. When they're out ranging, they leave my garden alone which is only 3 feet tall. I guess it's not worth it for them when they have the rest of the yard to help themselves to.

 

[mpguay]

i always seem to have 1 0r 2 out of 10 hens who will fly over the 4 foot fence.
But I usually let them out to free range every day. The LOVE it. The love to dust bathe in the sun, hunt for insects, and scratch around. They will scratch up your landscape, like flowers or vegetable garden. The LOVE the woods. lots of bug and cover.

I could not imagine NOT letting them out. I have lost one per year to hawks, but this was in their 50x50 foot pen. when they free range they have lots more cover and places to dive when overhead predators are around. In a fenced pen, they tend to run to a corner and thats where a hawk will get them. Id always recommend a ROUND pen.

I would not feel comfortable letting them free range on an open pasture. no place to dive for cover.

Of course at night they are locked up in a secure coop. It never fails, they get back in the coop and are on the roost by sundown. Many people recommend leaving young poults locked in the coop for a week or so until they are 'hefted' to their coop.

 

[Booby]

Well I was thinking of only letting them around in the garden while I am around in the garden. As my neighbours have cats also there are foxes in the area (never seen them during day). So I think I will supervise them while they free range.

 

[debid]

It's a quality of life consideration for me as well. I give ranging time with supervision because I know it makes the chickens happy. They'd prefer to be entirely free but that freedom would come at too high a price.

I knew we had a thriving predator population here when we started our chicken adventure. What I've since learned is that many raptors migrate. Around October, we have about ten times as many as normal and they're hungry so they'll act much more boldly than normal as well. I've also learned that forest cover is not adequate protection against them. I always thought they were an open spaces risk. Nope, some do hunt in the forest and some hunt around the edges. And, of course, there are the night hunters that occasionally come out earlier. Nothing quite like hearing the owls at 3PM. But, by far, the greatest threat is the carelessly abandoned canine -- half-starved and desperate.