Thinking about free ranging

[chickengeorgeto]

I actually gave 5 of my larger chickens away yesterday they were either barred rocks or dominiques but it got a HUGE rooster and 4 of his hens out of the pen..... I put them out in a temporary run and two (roosters of course) kept flying over the fencing. They didn't head to the porch, more like down near the clothesline (following under our trees around the fence line). They seemed to really like just the little extra room, or the green grass.

Since you removed the likely alpha rooster your two wondering roosters will likely feel mare at home in the pen.

 

[BantyChooks]

I have about 10 Roos and 35 hens... Today I just opened the door and figured good luck. They are having more then enough fun and the ducks found the swimming pool. They may be harder to corral today but I figured they needed some exercise since they used to be free ranging, I felt bad that I had them in a run. They are used to coming in at night.

We eliminate all threats at this house. We have other animals so we have a zero tolerance policy. Hawks I can do nothing about but they have cover, if they get taken its sad but the benefit outweighs the risk. They are about to be confined for winter better let them eat down my long grass while they can.

Awesome!

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Hi!
Since my backyard is tiny, my chickens free-range all the time, but I have seen/heard that other people generally let their birds roam when they're outside. And yes, they will poop on the porch, but probably not the car.

 

[Kim95037]

I had a hawk dive bomb at one of my chickens WHILE I WAS STANDING ABOUT FIFTEEN FEET AWAY. Luckily Annie was able to dive under the orange tree, but only because she was only a few feet away from it. So I covered my ENTIRE YARD with bird netting, which was quite the feat. Its quite the spectacle actually. Roosters are pretty good at warning the girls but if you have hawks flying around its almost a guarantee that you will eventually lose one without netting but it sounds like you may be ok on that end. Make sure they cant swoop in tho from ANYWHERE, which may be kind of hard to do depending on how extensive your bird netting is and what kind of coverage your trees provide. Do you have a completely enclosed yard? Does it have a fence all the way around it to keep stray animals from wandering in? Like dogs or possibly coyotes? Where you live and what kind of wild life you have in your area makes a huge difference.
But in answer to your question YES it is definitely a risk. Its always a risk. I just lost Penelope last Sunday, and I am very bummed out about it. I suspect a bobcat may have gotten her. I put a post up in the egg laying section about this incident. This is the first time in seven years I have lost a chicken to a predator, my yard is completely enclosed by a 5 to 6 foot fence and the bird netting, but apparently its not good enough for protection from a bobcat. AND I live in a fairly busy neighbor hood, tho its backed up to a very unpopulated hillside with lots of things like deer and such. Its not like I'm out in the woods with a couple of acres or something like that.
And YES they will poop everywhere! They poop on my porch and my sidewalk and sometimes right in front of my dang door right on the welcome mat. Im sure they would poop on my truck if they could get to it. I spend quite a bit of time in my yard with a pooper scooper keeping their poo up and off of the ground. The more I let them wander around in my yard the more poo I have to clean up.
Im in the same boat, I need to expand my run, which seems more doable than bobcat proofing my yard. If I had to do it over again I would build my coop and run completely different.

 

[Kim95037]

Wow I just watched the video of the hawk that acutally went into the chicken coop! Scratch the swooping in part. That was hard to watch but VERY informative. The reason I dont think it was a hawk that got Penelope is because of where I found the feathers and what I didnt find, which was anything else. There was absolutely no room for the hawk to fly away with Penelope. They would have had to have a very large takeoff area (in my opinion anyway) and Penelope was a BIG chicken. Not to say that a hawk couldnt kill a big chicken but taking off with one is a whole other story. The fact that she was completely gone is why I think it took a pretty large critter with some pretty amazing jumping ability to get out of my yard with her. Im not entirely sure, I may never know. What I do know is, that this is now a war and I am on a mission........

 

[venymae]

Our little flock of city chicks had a nice sized run, and were let out to free range at random times during the day, which they LOVED. We had a medium sized yard (city lot) and the chickens did poop quite a bit. Mostly I had a little sand pail and shovel that I'd use to scoop up any biggies that I happened to see while the kiddos were playing. I'd also occasionally put on a sprinkler when they were done to help the cecal poops wash off the grass and absorb into the ground (we had small boys who played in the yard). It worked pretty well.
As for the run, we put lots of bags of leaves/ mow clippings into the run for them to scratch through and a sturdy stump to jump on. Kept them active without packing on the weight. Our biggest predator problem during the day was the big tom cat next door, but he only went after the smaller pullets and chicks, never full grown hens. We have hawks in the area, but they don't usually hang out in town.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

With that pen (and coop) size, I would honestly recommend culling about 3/4 of the flock. I think 1 square foot per chicken in the coop and 36 square feet per chicken in the pen is the bare minimum.

 

[Clucksworth12]

With years of having chickens, I have tried free range, but for me it did not work. I was a nervous wreck the whole time and when dark started to creep up, I ended up having to coral my 8 ducks and thirty something chickens. The ducks were not that hard as most of them are flightless large pekins, and the others sinply followed them. Now, the chickens, were another story. My rooster, Maple, (we have a love hate relationship lol) obliged me in taking about five or six of the hens inside with him. The hardest were my other two roosters. They are constantly picked on by other chickens, there names are Clucksworth (hint: my name on BYC), and Mr. Ugly (we had a Mrs. Ugly but she unfortunately passed away this past winter.). Needless to say, I will never again allow my chickens to free range.

But moving on to your questions, (sorry if I got a little sidetracked on my disaster.). They will poop in the uard just as they would in the run. I have had family members who have had troubles with their chickens flying in their cars, and my uncle had a hen who flew in an open window and made a nest in his backseat! And I agree with previous posts about them high tailing it to the porch! They should be fine otherwise.

 

[Ashley McDaniel]

Just as everyone else has said, letting them out is the best option. I have 20 who I let out every morning around 8, unsupervised until around 11 when my 10 month old takes a nap. Then my 2 1/2 year old son go out and enjoy the laughs and entertainment they give us like your 2 children, my boys love them! And the rambunctious 2 year old has mastered catching them gently, and helping me round up our only stubborn one, Miss Cleo, our head hen, who is always the last one in lol We have about 2 acres of land that they're able to free range on, with plenty of tree coverage. They have not yet pooped on our vehicles, and they sometimes get on the porch but have yet to poop on it either. Now the yard though, that's a different story!!! Lol my husband is just like yours, not at all happy about this. But I hate keeping my chickens "Cooped up" so he's already started building a run, and mama (me) gave him the measurements and he's not happy with the size of it either lol lol and as far as predators go, we have everything you listed, as well as coyote, stray dogs from time to time, and my neighbor, the cat hoarder, has about 20 cats that like to roam over here from time to time. After numerous visits, talks, and pleas for her to keep her cats away, she still has done nothing! I don't know what else to do. They're tearing my yard and house up! And they scare my chickens to death!!! Fortunately, my chickens have all manages to stsy safe from predators and so far there hasn't been 1 incident. BUT anyways, enough about me. Good luck with the free ranging! It will be good for everyone (except maybe not the hubby ) lol

 

[BuffOrps416]

Going back to early posts, I understand what people say about letting them out near bedtime, since it will be the easiest because they will go back to the coop on their own, but there are some risks. Nighttime predators like foxes, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, owls, mountain lions, (all depending on the fauna of your area of course) will be lurking about and those can cause a lot of damage by attacking multiple birds. Also, as with most predators, once they find the flock they'll want to keep going back for more. The choice is completely up to you in the end, but just make sure you take this into account.