Topic of the week - Free Ranging

[froggyphore]

What pros and cons have you experienced when deciding to free range your flock?

when i first got my chickens i had a small yard and the amount of waste from just 6 was substantial lol. since i have moved to a rural area my biggest downside has been the 2 predator related deaths i have incurred. the pros are abundant, less feed, less coop cleaning, less smell, healthier and happier chickens, natural lawn fertilizer, the list goes on.


How do you keep your flock safe when out roaming?

a large fence near the tree line, lots of tree cover, and living next to a road does actually help quite a bit to deter predators. i plan to get a few roosters and geese this spring as well.


How do you ensure hens lay their eggs in the coop, instead of the garden/anywhere else they deem suitable?

i don’t lol. they usually choose the coop on their own but i have too many eggs to eat as is so i don’t mind a few losses. i’ve noticed leaving a few eggs in the nests and removing any ones accumulating outside helps keep them laying indoors.


How do you train new rangers to return to the coop at night?

on the first couple nights i put them in and they all learn pretty quickly. except for my first brood - it took them like a month to go in on their own lol.

 

[6BeachChicks]

I have mine in a run while I’m not home, but when I am I free range them supervised. I am scared to death of predators.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

- What pros and cons have you experienced when deciding to free range your flock?
Pros: The flock use less feed, the hens are much more content and therefore lay more, and they clean our apple trees of bad apples without consuming the seeds.
Cons: They are more likely to be taken by a hawk but so far, we've only lost cockerels/roosters to them.

- How do you keep your flock safe when out roaming?
We normally let our dogs out a few times a day and they provide a short time of protection. I will otherwise check on them every 5 minutes throughout the day, unless I'm at work.

- How do you ensure hens lay their eggs in the coop, instead of the garden/anywhere else they deem suitable?
I keep dud eggs that are marked, in the nesting boxes.

- How do you train new rangers to return to the coop at night?
We have a hen who raises all young. She trains them to return to the brooder coop when free ranging is over and once they get use to returning to a coop at night, I will wait until they're big enough to sleep with the flock in the main coop.

 

[MaeM]

- What pros and cons have you experienced when deciding to free range your flock?

Pros: they're super happy.
Cons: it can be unsafe.

- How do you keep your flock safe when out roaming?

- I have a dog who scares predators away. If he wasn't here, maybe a few cats of the neighborhood would have tried to have chicken for dinner.
- I supervise them. I don't let them roam if nobody's home.
- I have really tall fences so that they can't fly over them. Chickens do not usually escape because they have a sense of 'home', but they can be curious about the outside world and you don't know what can happen to them there.

- How do you ensure hens lay their eggs in the coop, instead of the garden/anywhere else they deem suitable?

I let the flock out after midday. Because the hens normally lay eggs in the morning, they're forced to use the nest box we've built for them in the coop.

If they want to lay eggs after midday, the coop's door is still open for them to go and use the nest box.

I used fake eggs to tell them "hey, this is where you should lay these".

- How do you train new rangers to return to the coop at night?

I go out and supervise them at dawn. If some chicken doesn't follow the rest of the flock back to the coop, I manually take him/her. I've never really had a problem with this because after two of three days of manually taking the chicken to the coop at night, the chicken would learn to do it him/herself.

 

[Bonwell]

If given the choice (and space) many of us prefer to free range our flocks, but there are pros and cons to this practice. This week I would like to hear you all's thoughts on free ranging and what you did to overcome the potential problems arising. Specifically:

- What pros and cons have you experienced when deciding to free range your flock?
- How do you keep your flock safe when out roaming?
- How do you ensure hens lay their eggs in the coop, instead of the garden/anywhere else they deem suitable?
- How do you train new rangers to return to the coop at night?

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What I've always done is just taken an hour in the morning and an hour at night to free-range and watch over them, before putting them back in their pen. This way, they get their fresh air and grass and bugs, but I don't risk any danger of a predator getting them or losing them

 

[lv9777]

i live in a neighborhood, but still let my girls run after work. This is usually only hour or so as it gets dark, but it is enough to keep them happy. They stay mostly in my backyard and put themselves to bed if I leave the coop open.

 

[BDutch]

I keep my 8 bantam chickens in 2 small coops with 2 runs , all connected. Free range time is often from 1 PM - sunset. But is varies a lot.
*Chicks are not let out to free ranges bc of all our neighbours have free ranging cats.

- What pros and cons have you experienced when deciding to free-range your flock?
Pros: happy and healthy chickens , less stress, the end of ticks (Lyme) in my garden. And with my last addition, less snails and slugs too.
Cons: poop on the terrace and more poop-flies. Some plants disappeared (others do better). 4 chickens disappeared in 10 years time (probably predated)

- How do you keep your flock safe when out roaming?
Buying a breed that can flee and is smart. Let broodies hatch newcomers to teach them about the dangers.
*Having a garden with lots of bushes and other cover. The chickens can fly up in a tree or on top of the run and to the neighbours if they see a dog or another 4 legged predator.

- How do you ensure hens lay their eggs in the coop, instead of the garden/anywhere else they deem suitable?
Fake eggs in the nestboxes to start with. The first years I always locked the chickens up in the coop/run for several days when I found an outside egg or a nest. They stopped doing so after laying in the coop again.

- How do you train new rangers to return to the coop at night?
I gave mixed grains and treats at the end of the day when it’s time to return to coop. Now they always come running if they hear me clucking and shaking the container.
If I forget the treats they usually come in by themselves. But every spring there are a few that like to go sleeping in the hedge or a tree. A good reason not to forget to lick them up. If they have made a habit of sleeping outdoors, its harder to stop them doing so.

*edit added info.