I know this subject of to free range or not to free range has been discussed her ad nauseum, but I need some advice. I have four girls (I hope they are girls and I'm pretty sure 3 of the 4 are, the 4th being a silkie) that are about two months old. I moved them into their coop and run permanently about 3 weeks ago and just this week they have finally been putting themselves to bed for the night on their own. Hooray! The coop is 4X6 and the run is 4X6, with space in the run under the coop, essentially making the run 6X8 (see picture).
Almost every afternoon I take the girls out and sit with them on the grass in a portable dog/puppy fence to contain them, moving it every day for access to new grass and bugs. They love their 30+ minutes to eat clover, find bugs, etc. I know chickens are happiest when they can free range for a good while, and I want my girls to be happy. It has always been my intent to let them out for a couple of hours every day, supervised. However, we have one resident red-shouldered hawk that I hear ALL DAY LONG, and sometimes I hear a second one. The hawk must live somewhere in our yard or our neighbor's yard as he/she is constantly flying over ALL DAY LONG. As you can see, our coop is pretty tree covered although just in front of the coop is an open area and our deck. We live in a city, although we do have 1.4 acres.
Do I need to wait until my girls are bigger as to make them less appealing for a red-shouldered hawk? I wouldn't want to let them out unsupervised, but I do worry they won't go back into the coop easily and if I can't get them back in and then have to go attend to things like putting my 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old to bed. Do I even risk letting them out at all? Or is the risk worth their benefit in happiness for an hour or two of free ranging a day. I might also mention that there are about no less than a gazillion squirrels around here. Are those easier pickings for a hawk? Help this new chicken mama calm her fears! Also, any suggestions of how to go about starting to let them out and get them back in are much appreciated.
Almost every afternoon I take the girls out and sit with them on the grass in a portable dog/puppy fence to contain them, moving it every day for access to new grass and bugs. They love their 30+ minutes to eat clover, find bugs, etc. I know chickens are happiest when they can free range for a good while, and I want my girls to be happy. It has always been my intent to let them out for a couple of hours every day, supervised. However, we have one resident red-shouldered hawk that I hear ALL DAY LONG, and sometimes I hear a second one. The hawk must live somewhere in our yard or our neighbor's yard as he/she is constantly flying over ALL DAY LONG. As you can see, our coop is pretty tree covered although just in front of the coop is an open area and our deck. We live in a city, although we do have 1.4 acres.
Do I need to wait until my girls are bigger as to make them less appealing for a red-shouldered hawk? I wouldn't want to let them out unsupervised, but I do worry they won't go back into the coop easily and if I can't get them back in and then have to go attend to things like putting my 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old to bed. Do I even risk letting them out at all? Or is the risk worth their benefit in happiness for an hour or two of free ranging a day. I might also mention that there are about no less than a gazillion squirrels around here. Are those easier pickings for a hawk? Help this new chicken mama calm her fears! Also, any suggestions of how to go about starting to let them out and get them back in are much appreciated.
