MoonShadows
The Jam Man
Like most of you, I originally built my coop and run like a virtual fortress, a reverse jail so-to-speak...keeping the innocent behind alcatrazian walls of wood and wire, and keeping the public enemies like hawks, foxes and raccoons out. I kept this "recommended" formula for a year and a half until one day I just opened the door and let my chickens have a taste of freedom. That first day, it took quite a while for the first brave heart to step outside the only world they had ever known. One by one they each took their first tentative steps into this new alien world, but never lost site of the door. Each day they ventured a bit further.
Within a week, they were exploring our back yard, front yard, back field and surrounding woods...running back and forth, stumbling upon caches of hidden bugs, worms and other crawly things, sun bathing in the early morning sun, and resting under there favorite cedar tree in the lazy afternoon. The day they found the mulch area must have been like Christmas for them. All I know is they were scratching, pecking and eating like crazy. It also has become their favorite dust bathing area.
Now, I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a fox or raccoon around here in the 20 years we've lived in PA, although I'm sure they are out there, but the neighborhood hawks took immediate notice. That's where our rooster came in. While the hens are feeding, he is constantly scanning back and forth and overhead. Let a hawk get anywhere near the property and his loud screeching serves as a siren to take cover. If close to the run, they duck in there. The woods are also a great place to duck and hide. However, the open field can be a no-man's (or no-chicken's) land. I built several "safe houses" by taking pallets and building three walls and a roof and placing them strategically in the field. More than once I have seen the whole flock hunkered down in one of them while the hawk was circling and the rooster was sounding the alarm.
True, our back yard has taken a beating, but we have erected a fence around the immediate area where we hang out and are nursing the lawn and gardens back to health (one reason why I waited until October to try this experiment). Yes, I do worry about them getting ambushed by a predator or predators, but they have a lot of hiding places during the day and still report back to the coop at night where we do a roost check and lock them up for the night. Yup, there are some downsides to free ranging, and I'm sure you can think of others, but free ranging has brought many benefits, more I think than keeping them in a run.
- Call me crazy, but they seem much happier.
- Less squabbles, less fighting, less missing feathers
- Best their feather coats have every looked
- More robust and definite weight gain
- Less spending on feed
- Better egg production
- Less bugs around
- More enjoyment from watching them be free and do what chickens do
Like children, you can't hold their wing and protect them forever....eventually you have to let them be real chickens.
Have any of you made the switch from run-only to free ranging? What have been your experiences?
Jim
Within a week, they were exploring our back yard, front yard, back field and surrounding woods...running back and forth, stumbling upon caches of hidden bugs, worms and other crawly things, sun bathing in the early morning sun, and resting under there favorite cedar tree in the lazy afternoon. The day they found the mulch area must have been like Christmas for them. All I know is they were scratching, pecking and eating like crazy. It also has become their favorite dust bathing area.
Now, I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a fox or raccoon around here in the 20 years we've lived in PA, although I'm sure they are out there, but the neighborhood hawks took immediate notice. That's where our rooster came in. While the hens are feeding, he is constantly scanning back and forth and overhead. Let a hawk get anywhere near the property and his loud screeching serves as a siren to take cover. If close to the run, they duck in there. The woods are also a great place to duck and hide. However, the open field can be a no-man's (or no-chicken's) land. I built several "safe houses" by taking pallets and building three walls and a roof and placing them strategically in the field. More than once I have seen the whole flock hunkered down in one of them while the hawk was circling and the rooster was sounding the alarm.
True, our back yard has taken a beating, but we have erected a fence around the immediate area where we hang out and are nursing the lawn and gardens back to health (one reason why I waited until October to try this experiment). Yes, I do worry about them getting ambushed by a predator or predators, but they have a lot of hiding places during the day and still report back to the coop at night where we do a roost check and lock them up for the night. Yup, there are some downsides to free ranging, and I'm sure you can think of others, but free ranging has brought many benefits, more I think than keeping them in a run.
- Call me crazy, but they seem much happier.
- Less squabbles, less fighting, less missing feathers
- Best their feather coats have every looked
- More robust and definite weight gain
- Less spending on feed
- Better egg production
- Less bugs around
- More enjoyment from watching them be free and do what chickens do
Like children, you can't hold their wing and protect them forever....eventually you have to let them be real chickens.
Have any of you made the switch from run-only to free ranging? What have been your experiences?
Jim
