Supervised Free Ranging?

[OreoH]

Hi everyone! I have a flock of 6 Brahma chickens, and I want to let the free range for a short time during the day. I live in a pretty close knit neighborhood, and no one has fences. We do have two lines of very tall and thick trees. I don't think they would be able to pass it. Behind my house, we have a small forest, and I definitely don't want any chickens going in there. The entry is pretty narrow, it's where we go to dump our leaves. I want to keep them near the exterior of the chicken run, where I could keep an eye on them. I'm only worried that I wouldn't be able to get everyone back inside. I'm not too concerned about predators, as we don't have too many hawks, and most of our predators only come at night. I've been trying to train them to come to me on command, but it's still a work in progress. Would it be possible to just let them roam, maybe 3 at a time, outside while I did chores? Do chickens go very far? Please tell me if you have any tips! Thanks!

 

[AgnesGray]

Ours go in at night and if you've ever chased a chicken, you'll know that catching them to put them in unwillingly before they want to go in on your own is a chore (and not a fun one)! lol

What we do that works really well for us is if we know we are going to be home, we let them out in a premier 1 portable fence. They stay within the fence and if need be, we can move the fence toward their coop until they are inside (basically shrink their area in the portable fence).

ETA: Yes, they have gotten pretty far any time they are out without the fence.

 

[Folly's place]

Chickens were jungle animals, and do prefer those trees and shrubs, as shade, great places to find bugs and worms, and feeling more natural to them. Mine spend much less time on open pasture than elsewhere, and some will travel 300+ feet to interesting places. And we don't have breeds noted to be very wide ranging!
Most issues with predation will be at night, unless their coop is safe, but free ranging ins always a risk, everywhere. And you will find that there are many more critters interest in chicken dinners than you ever imagined!
Mary

 

[svh]

Chances are they will make a beeline for those trees !

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

You can buy cheep plastic chicken wire and make a barrier, Brahmas aren't the best jumpers to my understanding.

 

[centrarchid]

pictures? satellite view for this season?

 

[WVBirdsAndBees]

We use a few techniques. The first and most fool proof is to let them out to range a couple hours or so before dusk. They will generally return to the coop as it gets dark.

We also get them used to an evening snack that is only given in the run, usually fruit or scratch. Whenever any are out ranging, all I have to do is walk out with the treat scoop and birds are scrambling to get back in. Now that they're conditioned that way, a bit of scratch can get them to follow me about anywhere.

They will definitely wander towards bushes or trees, where the goodies are. So you're right to be careful. We have one adventurous hen who ranges further than the rest and sets a poor example. I also have one that will pick a bush to roost in if it gets dark while she's out adventuring, regularly resulting in hide and seek games at coop closing time that she usually wins. It happens. Just do your best and learn the tendencies of your individual birds.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Letting them out is never the hard part, wrangling them back in can be, so I'd keep working on training them to come to you with treats, while they're in the run.

I don't have a problem with birds wandering off anyhow because my flock would rather be in the run than out and about much of the time, so convincing them to return to the run is almost too easy at times (i.e. if I start to walk away from the flock they figure it's time to go home and just put themselves back in).

 

[OreoH]

Ours go in at night and if you've ever chased a chicken, you'll know that catching them to put them in unwillingly before they want to go in on your own is a chore (and not a fun one)! lol

What we do that works really well for us is if we know we are going to be home, we let them out in a premier 1 portable fence. They stay within the fence and if need be, we can move the fence toward their coop until they are inside (basically shrink their area in the portable fence).

ETA: Yes, they have gotten pretty far any time they are out without the fence.

Thanks for the reply! Do they not fly over the top?

 

[AgnesGray]

Thanks for the reply! Do they not fly over the top?

Someone else asked me the same thing about my leghorns especially that are a notably flighty breed. They just tend not to do that though. They're well fed, I guess.