Supervised Free Range? Possible?

[FDaniels]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks for all your help!!

 

[chicken farmer8]

your very welcome good luck with your chickens

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Could predators still get them? Yes. Even while you're standing there a predator can snag one. I would think that you being there would make it less likely to happen but it can occur. I always think of this video where a coyote snags a hen immediately behind the person taking the video. Scroll down for the video. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/05/chickens-predators-myth-of-supervised.html

A few weeks ago an owl snapped a squirrel off my deck rail while we were standing there watching. We have netting over the chicken run so the owl hasn't been able to snag any of the girls.

Even when supervised, a determined predator can get to your chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s hard to tell you what will work on integrating for you. We keep them in such different circumstances and manage them in so many different ways, there is no right way or wrong way, more of what works for us in our unique situation. I think how much room you have available is an extremely important variable. One way chickens have learned to live together is that the weaker runs away from the stronger of avoids them to start with. They need room to run away, even with some chasing, or to avoid.

You have different things working in flock dynamics. Chickens can recognize which are members of their flock and which are intruders. Sometimes, not all that much but sometimes, a chicken will attack a stranger. It can really help to reduce the chance of this happening if you can house them side by side, separated by wire so they can’t get to each other, for a week or more so they can get to know each other. This problem does not always happen and housing them like this doesn’t always work, but I highly recommend you do it.

Another thing is the pecking order. All chickens in the flock have their place in society. They know who outranks whom. Size isn’t nearly as important as the personality and spirit of the chicken. The way they establish the pecking order is fear and intimidation. When two chickens meet that don’t know where each other rank, one normally tries to intimidate the other, often by pecking it. If one runs away, it’s settled, though there may be some chasing and repeat performances. If one doesn’t run away, it can lead to a fight. Most of these fights quickly devolve into chasing and running away as one decides fighting is not a good idea, but if they are fairly evenly matched the fight can get pretty rough. This is seldom the cause of injury or death however. What often causes serious injury or death is that the loser does not have enough room to run away and get away. Often they just hunker down and don’t even try to defend themselves. The winner does not realize she won and keeps attacking.

An additional element is that more mature chickens always socially outrank immature chickens and they are normally not shy about reinforcing their higher social standing. On rare occasions you will get a hen that seeks out chicks to do damage, but a more common occurrence is that when a chick invades the personal space of an older hen, the hen pecks the chick and it runs away if it can. Normally that satisfies the hen, but sometimes she chases it. That can be deadly. That’s why you see younger chicks usually forming their own separate flock, trying to avoid those mean old hens.

The more age difference in the chicks and the hens the more danger there is. I’ve seen a broody hen wean her chicks at 3 weeks. That’s pretty young. Most hens fall in the 4 to 9 week range for weaning their chicks. By weaning the chicks, I mean they totally ignore them day and night. The chicks are on their own in making their way in the flock. That broody hen has spent a few weeks teaching the other flock members to not mess with her chicks. I don’t do that.

I normally integrate at 8 weeks, but I have a lot of room and my brooder is in the coop. The chicks are raised across wire from the adults. Some people integrate a lot earlier. If space is tight it might be necessary to wait until the chicks are practically grown and ready to lay. That’s just the nature of us being unique.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On the supervised free ranging, that is a lot safer than just leaving them on their own. However there is always a risk. You can’t avoid it. Life comes with risk like Laurel’s link shows.

My parents raised chickens on a small farm a few miles from not much, back in the ridges. They totally free ranged, never supervised. Sometimes we had a dog for protection, sometimes we did not. They would often go years without a predator attack but every few years a dog or fox would find the flock and have to be dealt with. I can’t do that here. It’s not the wild life that’s the problem. People find this a good place to abandon dogs. I lost so many chickens to people dropping dogs off out here that I finally put up electric netting to stop them. The electric netting works.

I have a lot of hawks flying around out here. I’ve never lost a chicken to a hawk. I know a lot of other people do. There is a lot of luck involved. I did lose one to an owl. I was late locking them in the coop one night and an owl landed in that electric netting and walked into the coop to get one.

No one can tell you what will work for you. That’s going to depend on your predator pressure, your management techniques, and some on pure luck. Dealing with living animals does not come with guarantees. I wish you luck.

 

[aoxa]

If you do let them free range for only a limited amount of time, do it at the end of the day. They will be hard to round up.. At least mine are..

 

[Den in Penn]

Six weeks is to young to throw them together. Housing them next to each other for a couple of weeks while the chicks gain the size to defend themselves or run away would be good. If you are doing a supervised free range, allowing they to free range at the same time after they reach ten weeks or so should give them plenty of time to get to know each other. A few weeks of that and they can be housed together.