My "girls" are coming up on their 6 week birthday. They have their nice new coop and what I consider a nice sized run to play in during the day. It isn't crowded yet. But as they grow larger it will become more crowded. I plan on free ranging these "girls", but live in the woods with a lot of Owls and Red-tailed Hawks about.
At 6 weeks, they are pretty easy pickins' for such predators. I'd like to wait until they are pretty big before letting them out into the big wide world. I've never kept chickens before and don't know when it will be safe to "kick them out of the house". (I realize Owls and Hawks can kill a full-sized chicken, but I'm just thinking the chickens would be larger and stronger and could stand a chance of running or dodging if they were attacked.) Any suggestions?