To free range or not?

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
They will balance out by being killed off, not so nice for them. Your survivors will be the wilder and luckier individuals, and maybe that's what you are looking for.
I would fence and coop them in, and sort out who stays, and who leaves. You must have many more cockerels and roosters than is reasonable, so start there, and then remove hens as well, to get to the flock size you have space for and want to feed.
Mary

 

[Ghosty]

If you don't want them all, sell the chicks, or butcher some.

 

[Beaglegal]

This may or may not be acceptable to you but what I've found is predation will help manage the population. Three weeks isn't very long to make assessments regarding flock keeping arrangements.
Once you've been there a while and observed your chickens you will get to know the type of environment they prefer as nest sites. Even if persuade the majority that nest boxes in coops are where they should lay there eggs, some will if free ranging nest outside.
Don't wing clip is my advice. It doesn't really work. At best it may deter a chicken from attempting to fly over a fence and at worst, turn your chickens into predator bait.

Funny you should mention this. My husband just came in the house and told me I just lost a chicken to a coyote. He heard a commotion in the chickens and came in time to see one running of with something black in it mouth. I am a little unnerved as I understood that they only hunt from dusk to dawn. I have 2 little coyote morsels, otherwise known as beagles to protect!

 

[aart]

Free ranging is great, until it's not.
Always good to have a secure and good sized run for the times you need it.

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Beaglegal]

Free ranging is great, until it's not.
Always good to have a secure and good sized run for the times you need it.

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

Does this work with ducks as well?

 

[Ridgerunner]

3 weeks ago my husband and I bought our dream farm in Western Washington.

Congratulations on your dream farm. Your learning curve has started. Now romance meets reality.

I don't know how the previous owners managed their chickens or why they even had chickens. Meat? Eggs? Something else or a combination. How did they manage the numbers, predators or the dinner table? Did they manage the coyotes, trapping shooting, trained guard dogs, or maybe even poison? Did they perhaps have an electric fence set up?

What are your goals for chickens and ducks? Why do you want them? You'll need to come up with a way to manage them to meet your goals if you really want them. I love free ranging. You get to see them in their natural state. I grew up on a farm where Dad totally free ranged his chickens. Most slept in the hen house but many slept in trees. We'd go years between losses to predators. I can't keep them that way, too many losses to predators. So I keep them in a coop, run, and electric netting and buy a lot of their food. We have different predators an different predator pressures. Some people can free range without issues, some can't. My issues were not wildlife but dogs abandoned in the country and they got hungry. I did not blame the dogs when I had to shoot them, I blamed the irresponsible owners that abandoned them instead f doing the responsible thing.

I don't know what the right answers for you are. You may struggle to find them. I just wish you luck.

 

[aart]

Does this work with ducks as well?

I do not know....no ducks here.

@WVduckchick would know.

 

[Folly's place]

Ask on the duck thread.

 

[dadeo]

Before I confined my free range flock to a large run (two really, so I can rotate them) I was losing them here and there to predators, mostly owls and and other birds of prey. I locked them up in a coop with a large roost at night, and even gave them some cover around the yard, but still... I’m with Shadrack, too, if you free range just be prepared to lose some birds. If it gets to be too much (I had four distinct owls at one point) then you’ll have to adjust your management plan.

 

[Chickassan]

I'd just fence them off a chunk of land, they don't need 4 acres.
It would be much easier to control things in a smaller ranging area.