Thinking about free ranging

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have been 100% free ranging for the last 15 years. If you are set up correctly it can be mostly safe. There's always a risk, it just depends on how you feel about the risks.

I have lost a few birds here and there over the years but nothing devastating. I have close to 100 chickens. Most don't travel far from the shed, others, especially the younger birds will follow the tree line, and stick to cover, going up to 300 feet away. There is always at least one rooster accompanying a group of hens as a lookout.

We keep the surrounding fields cut down for good line of sight. There's trees and buildings for cover. Mine also have goats and donkeys in the pastures. The donkeys work well for keeping predators away too.

I hardly ever see any poop, it's mostly in the lawn or field. I see zero behavioral problems with free ranging. My chickens are mentally and physically better off. In the warmer months my feed bill is cut in half.

You do need to be proactive if a predator does come around. They need to be removed permanently. I have lost a few to coyote, and a fox. A hawk killed a duck one year but couldn't take it. Otherwise I don't have problems with them.

If you decide to free range you need to be willing to lose birds, especially as you figure out what works and what type of critters you need to worry about. If you start, it can be hard to pen them back up, often you will see more aggression as they know what they are being denied.

 

[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.

 

[Photokitty]

I have been 100% free ranging for the last 15 years. If you are set up correctly it can be mostly safe. There's always a risk, it just depends on how you feel about the risks.

I have lost a few birds here and there over the years but nothing devastating. I have close to 100 chickens. Most don't travel far from the shed, others, especially the younger birds will follow the tree line, and stick to cover, going up to 300 feet away. There is always at least one rooster accompanying a group of hens as a lookout.

We keep the surrounding fields cut down for good line of sight. There's trees and buildings for cover. Mine also have goats and donkeys in the pastures. The donkeys work well for keeping predators away too.

I hardly ever see any poop, it's mostly in the lawn or field. I see zero behavioral problems with free ranging. My chickens are mentally and physically better off. In the warmer months my feed bill is cut in half.

You do need to be proactive if a predator does come around. They need to be removed permanently. I have lost a few to coyote, and a fox. A hawk killed a duck one year but couldn't take it. Otherwise I don't have problems with them.

If you decide to free range you need to be willing to lose birds, especially as you figure out what works and what type of critters you need to worry about. If you start, it can be hard to pen them back up, often you will see more aggression as they know what they are being denied.

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.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

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.

That's my philosophy as well. Better they run free. Most chickens are miserable penned up, especially if they have free ranged at some point in their lives. I'd rather I lose a few over the season than see them pecking each other, and generally looking bored, and unhappy.

 

[BantyChooks]

I have been 100% free ranging for the last 15 years. If you are set up correctly it can be mostly safe. There's always a risk, it just depends on how you feel about the risks.

I have lost a few birds here and there over the years but nothing devastating. I have close to 100 chickens. Most don't travel far from the shed, others, especially the younger birds will follow the tree line, and stick to cover, going up to 300 feet away. There is always at least one rooster accompanying a group of hens as a lookout.

We keep the surrounding fields cut down for good line of sight. There's trees and buildings for cover. Mine also have goats and donkeys in the pastures. The donkeys work well for keeping predators away too.

I hardly ever see any poop, it's mostly in the lawn or field. I see zero behavioral problems with free ranging. My chickens are mentally and physically better off. In the warmer months my feed bill is cut in half.

You do need to be proactive if a predator does come around. They need to be removed permanently. I have lost a few to coyote, and a fox. A hawk killed a duck one year but couldn't take it. Otherwise I don't have problems with them.

If you decide to free range you need to be willing to lose birds, especially as you figure out what works and what type of critters you need to worry about. If you start, it can be hard to pen them back up, often you will see more aggression as they know what they are being denied.

I have occasional hawk attacks but free ranging actually helps take the edge off them as my run doesn't have a top. Yes, hawks may go into the brush after them, but the birds have a head start and can run pretty far, giving me enough time to come out screeching like a banshee, lol. The only bird I have lost to an attack in about 3 years was a Sultan hen that was severly lacking in the brains dept. Even with a trimmed crest she was still not very smart. There have been other attacks but the chickens either got to cover and the hawk gave up or I was close enough to stop it.

I figure it's no longer quite as much like shooting fish in a barrel. I have about 10 roosters most times and they band together and watch the skies constantly. With each attack they get more wary. Even the ducks race for cover at top speed if a rooster reels off the alarm call.

Overall the health benefits are much larger than any risk. My birds are more active, feed bill is lower, lice and worms don't get as much of a foothold, and eggs are more orange.

In regards to the poop everywhere thing, yes, there will be some. My flock of about 40--50 stays in the woods most of the time but they might go over things left on the ground and leave their "presents". I have never had a bird poop on the car.

As for the letting them out for a bit thing: every scrap of time they can be outside helps. I free-range largely unsupervised but I am still nearly always near a door or window where I can peek at them occasionally. I used to just free range in evenings and that's fine too if it's easier.

 

[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.