Should I let my chickens be free range during the day?

[lukemower]

I have for 2 month old chickens, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Amerecauna/EE, 1 Polish Silver lace, and 1White Leghorn. I have a Coop for them Outside in the backyard, it is roughly 3 ft by 3ft by 3ft. The coop is inside of a large barred cage with bars about 4 inches apart, the whole cage is covered in chicken wire, it is 8ft by 9ft, and 6ft tall with a covered top. Surrounding the cage is a large forest, on one side of the forest is a 4ft chain link fence that surrounds the whole backyard. On another side of the forest is the back patio. on the other two sides there is grass. our backyard is about 1/2 acre, the forest takes up about 1/4 of it. the grass takes up about another 1/4 acre. 1/4 of it is has garden beds with trees and bushes and stuff. the last 1/4 is made up of a sandbox and garden. There are houses on four sides of us, but in the back corner there are a couple acres of plains and small forests. There are lots of deer out there and we think there may be raccoons and other predators, there may also be hawks. I am wondering if it will be safe to let them roam during the day and put them in the coop at night. We also have two cats, which have shown no aggression toward the chickens even when let into the chicken cage. The cats are about twice the size of the chickens at 2 months. our neighbors have no dogs though several have cats. Should I allow my chickens to be free range during the day?

Thanks for the help.

 

[1muttsfan]

It sounds like a perfect place to find predators of all kinds.

 

[Chickenshoe]

chicken wire keeps chickens from getting out, it does nothing to keep a determined predator from getting in.. hardware cloth (1/2) would be my recommendation... as to letting them out,, I would not recommend letting them run around when small....when near full grown.. a hawk is not likely to be able to pick one up so easily... only way to keep em completely safe is to never let em out,,, most folks would rather let em run around some,, im going to

 

[JackE]

. I am wondering if it will be safe to let them roam during the day and put them in the coop at night.

Good luck with that. You may get away with it for a while. But eventually, a predator of some kind will find them. Then, it's a matter of how big the loss will be. I got away with freeranging for almost a full year, until the fox found my flock. Lost nine one afternoon. 650' of electrified poultry net was the answer for me. The birds get to come out everyday, and have a fairly big area to safely roam in.

 

[chynasparks]

JackE is right. After a year of no predators during the day, I got lulled into a false sense of security and let my small flock free range during the day. I would watch them and things seem to be just fine. Then in a 3 week period I had just 2 left. I was devastated. I rehomed the last 2 because the alternative was complete lock up in the coop until a covered run could be made. Well, I have 5 new chicks and the covered run is well under way. I did loose one early on but I let them stay in a whoop coop over night and a racoon got one of my girls. But never had a problem in the day. I felt supervised free range would be fine. Well it wasn't because I wasn't keeping a CONSTANT eye on them. It only took minutes to loose my girls. Some people raise chickens as a farming thing, I'm raising pets. They give me eggs, I give them love and care. I failed miserably in providing for their safety. Not this time. This time my little flock is going to be kept safe. I see free range chickens all around my neighborhood. It can be done but there is a loss. You will be replacing chickens. It comes down to what is acceptable. I'm raising only 5 so one loss is a big deal. The guy down the road with 30+ chickens probably doesn't miss them until his flock gets really thinned out.

 

[lukemower]

Thanks Chickenshoe, the chicken wire is around a large cage that stronger predators that can get through the chicken wire is mainly for the chickens and smaller animals.Thanks for the suggestions everyone.