What age to let chickens out to forage ?

[Homestead girl]

We kept our chicks in the garage till they had full feathers. Then moved them to the coop with a run that's covered and closed. We let them free range at three months I think. No fence, totally free range. We leave the run door open with water in the run. We live right next to a state part (6feet) with lots of predators. I think we only lost 1 to a hawk out of 21 chickens and 5 guiness.
We lock them up good before dusk!!!! Don't feed them in the afternoon and then they will come in at dinner time. In the summer we only feed them at night due to free range diet. We keep them free range on our pasture. They prefer the woods.
This is our coop we build last summer: good luck

Beautiful coop , The snow is also lovely. I live in Georgia snow doesn't happen that often and when it does it is only a couple of inches. Where are you located? Love the coop. I feed mine once a day usually in the morning . I will have to change that to evening or treat time to get them in. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Homestead girl]

its funny my ladies are or have become creatures of habit, They put themselves up at 8.30 pm lol like a clock. they have a tractor coop, so Ill move it around every day, depending on our schedule, my bf and I will always let them forage as much as possible, we can let them out at noon, at two at six, but like clockwork, at 8.30 pm, they percaww, each other, to get into the coop and settle in for bed. and then they will percaw and peeeqwakkk at us until we close them in for the night, My ladies have put themselves on a sunup to sundown schedule. Yours will probably too.

That is so funny. I can see the coop from my front porch , I can watch them while I have coffee in the morning. I listen to them at dark and they make such a fuss getting settled in. I watch them and next thing you know I see one of them fly to the ground cause they got pushed off the roost. It has 4 rungs. But they all want to be at the top. So they fuss for a good 30 minutes before they all find their spot. Now they are still small enough they fit on two rungs. But soon they will fill up the entire roost.

 

[Fancychooklady]

When my coronation sussex put themselves to bed they make such a commotion , until everyone is in the desired spot. Once that happens, nothing till sun up!

 

[BrendaJ]

I start letting mine out to explore at about 10 wks. They stay very close to the coop/run but then they start to follow the big hens around after a few days.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I guess they are a bit like kids, sooner or later you have to let them out into the big wide world and just let them be chickens.

 

[MtnFamilyFarm]

We live in upstate SC - lots of coyotes, hawks, bears, snakes, pet dogs - (we have 2 one yr old shipoos and a 12 yo lab who KNOWS he is a bird dog....). We have several acres and would LOVE to free range some during the day but are concerned - esp. about coyotes and dogs. Figure it is impossible here. Anyone else live in an area like that and successfully free range?

We are raising dual purpose heavy and more docile breeds.

Our current plan is just to build lg predator proof runs and maybe even be able to plant and rotate runs eventually. Our oldest are about 2 1/2 mos. and youngest are just hatched.

Thanks. BTW I love reading y'alls free range experiences and seeing the pics. I am living vicariously!

Amanda



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[centrarchid]

Hen raised start free-range existence at hatch. Brooder reared start at about 5 weeks under worse weather conditions and can start as early as 3 weeks when weather consistently hot and dry. Free-range keeping for me a function of birds ability to thermoregulate under prevailing conditions.

I use real bird dogs to keep other baddies at bay. Roosters can be significant help with respect to hawks that might otherwise take chicks without landing which is only way to beat my dogs. I have all baddies OP has except bears. Coyotes are wussies.

 

[Teena Marie]

I live in S. E. Washington State. We have 5 acres of mostly sagebrush and a small bit of lawn. The bugs are awful here so I decided we needed some chickens for dual purpose...eggs and pest control.

I got 4 SLW last year and once they were about 5 months old we started to let them free range. We cautiously watched out the windows with frequent walks outside to check for hawks, eagles, ravens, coyotes and dogs. Everything was fine until Christmas day when a neighbors dog got one of them. He really did a number on her back and thigh but with a lot of care and triple antibiotic ointment we managed to save her. So we haven't free ranged them since. Finally one of them managed to escape one morning while the Hubby was feeding them their scratch. About an hour later we heard was a loud squawk and suddenly we were down to 3 chickens. All we found was a small tuft of feathers, no blood, and this was 7+ pound hen. We still aren't sure what happened to her and of course she was my favorite hen. The week prior to her disappearance we had purchased a larger coop and 6 RIR chicks. Now instead of free ranging we will be building a bigger run and spraying for bugs.

Free range is great but I'm not sure if they are truly ever safe, be it the neighbors cute dog, a stray cat or one of nature's predators.

 

[centrarchid]

Free-ranged production and ornamental breeds need protection. Properly protected flocks can do very well with minimal risk. If done correctly free-range does not equal open buffet.

 

[GFamily]

Well, I don't know how much this will help since it's our first time owning chickens. Our 15 girls are doing great at 9 weeks old. I let them out into a small penned area when they were 2 days old for about 2 hours everyday for the first 2 weeks. Then at week 4 they were moved from the brooder to the coop (still with brooder lamps inside the coop) and they have been allowed free range time for a few hours everyday after work. We live inner city where they allow up to 20 chickens, but we cannot let them free range all day when we're not there so they have a large run. They always go back to their home when it's close to dusk and they do not stray very far from it when they are free ranging.

Extra note: they are always supervised while free ranging. Me, hubby, and/or daughter are always out there each night gardening or doing something while they are free ranging. Also, since we are inner city and the entire property is fenced we don't have "as many" predators to worry about, but we do still have some like racoons and possums.