What do you consider free range?

[3KillerBs]

I would consider free ranging being out in an area unconstrained by fencing or, at least, by fencing enclosing an area larger than they'd generally be inclined to roam and/or large enough that they can't strip the vegetation back to bare dirt.

I don't do free-range, but I'm planning on using my electric net to rotate pens so that they can regularly have fresh ground to work over.

 

[DobieLover]

Just kinda wondering what everyone considers free range to be. I keep my 60 chickens in about 3750 square feet. Before there was no fencing but the hens didnt want to lay in the nesting boxes and decided the garden was a tasty snack. I'm planning on moving them into the forested area with it only fenced off to keep them out of the main garden. Surprisingly my cats enjoy being guardians over the flock and keep most of the predators away.

Free ranging is, by definition, the ability to go freely about without obstruction. If there are any types of man made physical barricades, they are not free ranging. Period.
You are releasing them into a large pen.
I do the same. I have a 12x8 coop with an attached 28 x 12 covered run that sit inside a 1/3 acre pen. They do not free range any longer.

 

[My2butterflies]

Free ranging is, by definition, the ability to go freely about without obstruction. If there are any types of man made physical barricades, they are not free ranging. Period.
You are releasing them into a large pen.
I do the same. I have a 12x8 coop with an attached 28 x 12 covered run that sit inside a 1/3 acre pen. They do not free range any longer.

^That is the definition of free range I go by.
If just having no roof/top cover was all that was needed to be considered free range, then my chickens are always free ranged when let out of the coop. Lol Their pen is large with no covering.

My guineas, turkeys, and ducks free range. We have just under 10 acres and are surrounded by fields on all sides. They have no real boundaries. This also makes them very susceptible if any predators come through though. I’m always listening for the guineas predator call.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

My 55-ish birds spend 12 hours a day with the run gates open, able to wander aprox. 4.5 acres protected by nothing but an electric fence. When that's not enough, or I'm late to wander out after morning coffee, some of them jump the fences in the runs and spend even more time in the pasture.

That, to me, is "free range".

The USDA offers these handy guides to terms.

 

[GC-Raptor]

My definition of free range is the ability to visit neighbors and or cross a road.
Yes my first Flock of chickens did both.
My second and third haven't done so.
I only let them out for an hour daily, not the previous 4 hours of my first Flock.

GC
ETA; My chickens have access to an acre of lawn and 5 acres of woods when I let them out to free range. They mostly stay out of the woods, but not always.