When do your chooks get let out of the coop?

[Kegs1972]

Morning? Afternoon? ALl day?

Mine are out for a couple of hours in the arvo and on weekends, both morning and night or whenever I'm home

 

[Pork Pie]

All day, every day. Guess it depends on ones set up, predators etc

 

[Kegs1972]

It does hey - just curious

 

[shortgrass]

All day every day as well. Some spend the night out, too. Chickens and turkeys in trees

 

[chickens really]

I let mine out the same as you.....If I am home they go out for a couple of hours a day......I have a Fox problem......My Dogs are great also......I must correct this......I free range two hours a day.....Out in the run all day till dark.....


Cheers!

 

[aart]

I let mine out of the coop and into the run(s) everyday once it's light out......but they never leave the run, too many preds and other reasons..

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi.

Sun up till sun down here.

But sometimes they choose to hang out in the coop even on good weather days. I'm glad they are comfortable in there. Makes my hubby feel good that they appreciate his hard work.

 

[Cacique500]

I have a fenced in back yard, so every afternoon I try to let the girls out for a couple hours...usually a couple hours before they go to bed. I do sit out there with them to keep an eye out for predators (we have tons of hawks).

 

[rosemarythyme]

My coop is inside my main run, and I open the coop door in the morning after I let my dogs out. I open the door to my auxiliary run about an hour later, weather permitting.

The runs and coop both get closed up at dusk, once the birds have roosted for the night.

 

[Teila]

My run is predator proof [well, as predator proof as I can make it and depending on the type of predator] so the coop door is always open and they can wander out at dawn of their own accord into the run. I used to only allow supervised free range every afternoon for a couple of hours and all day on the weekend.

This has recently changed to all day unsupervised free range because of the ruckus they make early morning demanding to be let out

They used to be OK with only the afternoon but started demanding to be let out an hour before the scheduled time. That became two hours before and then three hours before etc to the point that now it is easier and quieter if I let them out when I give them breakfast. I have one hen who would put a peacock to shame on sound type and volume

Technically they are not totally unsupervised as I work from home and can race outside if they raise the alarm and if we are not home they will have to stay locked up in the run; but we will not be there to hear the complaints, sorry neighbours! lol

Luckily our only real predators are overweight, lazy neighbourhood cats, the occasional wandering dog and of course, aerial predators but we have multiple places for them to scurry and lots of vegetation to hide under.