Trying to get an idea of how many out there do free range vs chicken runs/enclosed.

[EmmaDonovan]

We have a lot of predators: hawks, coyotes, neighborhood cats, bobcats, pit vipers, and humans. Squirrels, snakes, gila monsters, mice and rats also steal eggs and feed.

Competition for food is fierce in the desert. Our run, coop, and pens are completely enclosed and kept locked up.

 

[Appalachickens]

We have a lot of predators: hawks, coyotes, neighborhood cats, bobcats, pit vipers, and humans. Squirrels, snakes, gila monsters, mice and rats also steal eggs and feed.

Competition for food is fierce in the desert. Our run, coop, and pens are completely enclosed and kept locked up.

Off topic, I did some volunteer work with the Sierra Club in southern Arizona, and you're right - it was hot even in February!

 

[Sherrie H]

My girls don't free range; Along with their coop, they have two runs attached to each other, one with a river rock flooring and a cover, their food/water, total predator protection etc. is in this one, and the second run a little less secure, has dirt for digging, dusting, bugs, partial sun (the amount depending on the time of year) etc. Each are 6.5 x 9.8 x 6.5 ft arched roofed. A door that separates them from each other I open in the morning and close in the evening (unless I have to be off site then I con them in with treats and close the separation door).
They are all happy, healthy and predator protected. Six hens laying six eggs daily and get along great.

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[ChickenChick46]

We have many predators, so everything is enclosed. Raccoons that are out day and night, hawks during the day, owls at night, possums, bobcats, bears. We figured enclosed with hardware cloth was just the safest way to go. The coop and initial run have a concrete trench poured around the perimeter to prevent digging in. The extended run we're planning will be much bigger, so I'm not sure if we'll do concrete again or just run the HWC cloth out along the ground and cover to make an apron.

 

[Vicker]

I've made a lot of changes over the years. I haven't loved the methods that kept them very confined, such as a moveable coop with tunnels. I've kept them fenced in large areas with no cover, and I've let them 100% free range. After getting black chickens and crow decoys several years ago, I haven't had a single hawk attack. But, now I'm fed up with them camping out and pooping where I don't want them, and I'm fed up with blocking them from getting into garden beds. I'm looking to put up some uncovered fencing again.

 

[Appalachickens]

We have many predators, so everything is enclosed. Raccoons that are out day and night, hawks during the day, owls at night, possums, bobcats, bears. We figured enclosed with hardware cloth was just the safest way to go. The coop and initial run have a concrete trench poured around the perimeter to prevent digging in. The extended run we're planning will be much bigger, so I'm not sure if we'll do concrete again or just run the HWC cloth out along the ground and cover to make an apron.

We have every one of those predators as well. I wonder if it depends on how much cover you have for them? I live in the woods and the little bit that isn’t wooded has a tangle of perennials. They are just so happy when they are out and about.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I use both free range, & coops(Includes the runs). I do rotational free ranging, so 1 flock free ranges for a day, then the next day the other free ranges for a day. I have not lost a single chicken to a hawk, but only a Guinea hen years ago.

Hawks usually fail trying to get my birds, or just ignore them.

 

[ChickenChick46]

We have every one of those predators as well. I wonder if it depends on how much cover you have for them? I live in the woods and the little bit that isn’t wooded has a tangle of perennials. They are just so happy when they are out and about.

I'm sure natural cover helps a lot. We don't have any where the chickens are. We've planted some trees, but it'll take a while before they'll get big enough to really be any help. We're redoing the old garden beds this coming spring, and the plan is to put in things that get taller like grasses or other tall perennials.

 

[redrascalsranch]

Our chickens (and ducks) free range in our large orchard that has an 8' fence around it. The trees were just planted so there isn't really overhead cover yet from those. They also have their coop and then a covered run (door open during the day), also in the orchard. We haven't had any issues yet, but my birds are also only 3 months old so not a lot of time for it to happen yet. There has been a coyote several times at the corner of the orchard but it's pretty tough for it to get in with the fence height and having dug wire a foot underground as well. There are hawks around but haven't seen any try anything yet.

 

[rural mouse]

1. I free range, coop at night, no run.

2. I don't have hawk issues, have hawks in the area.

3. The only things I have done, 1: let the aspen suckers and Russian olive shoots grow wild=more cover. And 2: I have, currently, 3 roosters and 3 12-week cockerels being raised (as part of a hatch) originally by 3 broody hens, then by the rest of the flock as mamas dropped off the baby raising duties. My oldest rooster is a gold penciled hamburg, and the most alert little fellow I've ever seen. Either he or his offspring tend to sound off over hawks before any others. He's helped raise every rooster, and all but 4 of my hens. Those 4 are 1: older than him, 2: hatch mates of his, or 3: only a few weeks younger. All other birds are at least a year younger. He's 4. All babies after him have been either broody raised or raised in the coop from at most 2 weeks with the assistance of the Mama Hen Heating Pad and the whole flock raising them.

4. I've had the occasional bird snatched by a hawk, but have lost more to foxes or dogs. Most of this through learning curve both for the chickens and for me. The last 4 birds I've lost have been due to illness/culling for health reasons. I manage around 30something birds.