When is the best time to let your girls free-range?

[pleitez73]

Some predators are more likely to kill chickens early in the morning or late in the evening when the light is low, but other predators will strike any time of day. No matter when you let your chickens free range, you run the risk of losing some to predators. The best defenses if you free range is to either be outside yourself, keeping an eye on things while they are free ranging, or else having a couple of good dogs to guard them (just make sure your dogs don't become the predators). Also, some breeds are more difficult for predators than other breeds due to their alertness and flightiness, or their coloration (camouflage). A few good, protective roosters can also help defend the flock against some predators. As for Turkey Vultures, they will not take your chickens, but Hawks, Owls, and Eagles certainly will.

what are some good guard dogs

 

[Mtnboomer]

All day every day. I lock my birds up in a coop at night. Otherwise they have full run of the farm. Predation is a possibility but not a concern for me. Not because we do not have predators. On the contrary, we have many but the scent of the dog (just a pet not a guard dog) and the human activity keeps the predators away during the day.

At night, there is a whole menagerie of fox, coons, bears, coyotes, bobcats, opossum, skunk, etc that roam through the yard but the birds are locked up in an elevated coop.

I have only lost a total of 4 birds to predators in only 2 attacks. Both attacks occurred in the middle of the day. The 1st was before we got our dog. The 2nd was when i took my dog with me to run errands and was gone all morning.

 

[Mtnboomer]

what are some good guard dogs

My lab/pit mix is a family pet but his scent does the job more than his ferocity or his intelligence, especially his intelligence.
Any dog's presence will be a perceived threat to a predator unless the dog is so small it too has to worry about predation (toy breeds). The dog doesn't need to be present all the time but often enough to be seen, heard, and most importantly smelled.
Since getting Charlie, i do not worry about predators at all and the bears only come into the yard or on the deck 3-4 times a season now.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I let my chickens free range an hour before sunset daily, weather permitting, they make their way back to the coop just after sunset.
I do a head count and lock em up.

I don't free range pullets till all have begun laying for at least a couple of weeks.
I am with them continuously for a couple of weeks, then check on them frequently, till they learn the way around my property.
Still even after a couple of months a pullet got separated from her flock and start squawking.
I had to show her the way back to the coop.

In 4 years of letting chickens free range, I lost 2 hens and a pullet.
Two were lost at sunset when I was late getting outside. A hen to a Fox, and a pullet to a Coopers Hawk.
I lost a hen to a Bobcat just minutes after letting them out, about 50 minutes before sunset.

Most attacks happened at sunset, so I set an alarm on my phone 10 minutes before.

I don't like to lose any chickens to a predator, but chickens do love to forage for bugs, grubs and worms.

Each of my 2 Flocks of 3 and 4 have a 200 square foot pen during the day. GC

 

[cmom]

I'm rural on a dead end road. I don't free range anymore due to losses from predators in the past. My land is mostly open pasture. A predator can lurk and you may never see it. You can get distracted for a moment and that's all it takes to snatch and run. It's not a risk I want to take. Lessons learned the hard way. Now my birds all have nice large covered pens, concrete under the gates and electric wires around the coops and pens. Each pen averages around 1200 sq ft. Luckily I have the space. I've had too many losses in the past. One night a bobcat dug under a fence and killed 14 birds, just killed them. I realize that was not an incident while free ranging but I have lost birds while free ranging by simply getting distracted for a moment. Since I have put the electric wires up I have had no issues. I have seen attempted digs under the fence but as soon as they touch the electric wires they abort the attempt. I think the adult predator teach the young that a chicken isn't worth getting zapped for. Good luck...