starting to let my chickens free range

[philipchickymad]

i would love to let my chickens free range around the farm but i have 4 dogs and i dont know if the chickens would come back to me if i let them out once so i dont no how im going to find out wether they will just run away any ideas would b much appreciated

 

[Starcey]

When we first got our Pullets we kept them in the coop for about a week to let them adjust. After that, we typically let them out in the evenings to have free range of the yard. When it starts to get dark they all gather up and go back in the coop on their own. We just have to go behind to pin them in to keep predators out at night. good luck to you!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

When I let pullets out for the first time, I always make sure there is an enclosure around the pullet house so they can't stray too far away at first, and I can catch them at night if I need to.

In my experience, I've never had a group of pullets all "get it" the first night and all go to roost by themselves. I've always had to round them up and put them in the coop for 3-5 nights until they are all going in by themselves. Once I decided to just let them out with no fence around the coop, and they scattered and I couldn't catch them and they were literally never seen again. Since then there's always an enclosure, even a temporary one, around the pullet house. We use panels lined with goat fence and chicken wire on the bottom so that the little pullets can't fit through.



You can use chicken wire attached to cheap fence posts to do this--you can also use cheap plastic snow fence. Once they are reliably going into the coop to sleep every night, then you can let them out and they will probably come back.

One problem with letting birds free-range on a farm is that there are so many wonderful places for hens to lay their eggs and sleep, that they may decide not to come back to the coop at all. On my dad's farm, he had 20 hens and was getting four eggs a day, because the rest of the hens were laying in the hay mows, in with the calves, and even on the top of some shelves in the equipment shed. If the hens find some place they like better than your coop, they will lay there and you'll have a daily, not-so-much-fun, hunt for eggs.

Dad finally gave up and caught all his hens and gave them to me, where they are living quite happily in the 75' x 125' pasture with the rest of my hens.

 

[philipchickymad]

thanks i might just give them a really big run and they will feel feel like they can roam freely

 

[BarredRockGirls]

I penned mine up for 2 weeks straight . Then I just sat at the door w it open but they couldn't get passed me . And I used a noise I now call em in with while I fed them a treat. Then I moved outta the door to a few feet In the yard and fed them a treat w the same noise and let them scratch and play - they all didnt know what to do haha then an hour before dark I'd go open the coop and let them chase bugs around or whatever.. Then use the sound to call them for a treat back to the coop.. They came in. Ate . Went to roost. . I soon replaced the treats w reg feed then no feed at all . Now I just go out at 7:30 pm point to the coop and say bedtime girls come on!! And use the sound and wherever they are ... Woods yard garden front yard ..they come in. My ducks do too then I shut the door easy peasy!

Everything is fully free ranged here

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

thanks i might just give them a really big run and they will feel feel like they can roam freely

This is what I'd suggest. Truly free-range chickens are real destructive pains.

 

[BarredRockGirls]

This is what I'd suggest. Truly free-range chickens are real destructive pains.

I disagree! I love my girls . I love that they come to me to say hello or check out what I'm doing . I would never call them PAINS.
If you have the time to train them . And enough space I don't think they are issues at all . They are chickens . They scratch ,they poop. They eat pretty things but I don't have expensive planted flowers haha so no prob. They have all the space they want - truly free range

 

[Ravenseye]

I typically put some plastic snow fence up between the coop and the barn making a big, wide pen for them. The first night is usually the hardest since they don't quite know what to do even when they're with chickens that have been around for a while. After a few nights "helping" them find the coop and locking them up, they have it down pretty good. Another week and the snow fence comes down. They have full run of the yard and woods line but only at night for another couple of weeks. By then, they've figured out to lay in the coop (usually in the nesting boxes but some get creative). Once they figure out the laying part, I let them have the run of the yard. Hard part for me is the mixed flock. I have a bunch of pullets this year and there are a few different breeds. Some are laying now, others will lay later. It's those later ones that I worry about coming back to the coop and using the nesting box.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I disagree! I love my girls . I love that they come to me to say hello or check out what I'm doing . I would never call them PAINS.
If you have the time to train them . And enough space I don't think they are issues at all . They are chickens . They scratch ,they poop. They eat pretty things but I don't have expensive planted flowers haha so no prob. They have all the space they want - truly free range

But.. you're basically changing YOUR behavior, not the hens' behavior, by not planting things so that your chickens have nothing to destroy. They are still destructive, you just don't have anything to destroy. You can't train a chicken not to scratch and not to find the nicest dirt and prettiest mulch to scratch in.

My hens, were I to let them free-range, would have 8.5 acres. But they would instead destroy the garden, ripping out all the plants and eating everything they could get their beaks on, and then they move to the neighbors' houses and dig out all their plants and scatter mulch everywhere. I know this because that's what they do if they get out of the pasture.

There is nothing more aggravating than planting and weeding and taking care of a long-season heirloom tomato, waiting all season for it, and the day before it's truly ripe having a chicken poke holes in it.

I think perhaps you don't have very many chickens.

 

[BarredRockGirls]

But.. you're basically changing YOUR behavior, not the hens' behavior, by not planting things so that your chickens have nothing to destroy. They are still destructive, you just don't have anything to destroy. You can't train a chicken not to scratch and not to find the nicest dirt and prettiest mulch to scratch in.

My hens, were I to let them free-range, would have 8.5 acres. But they would instead destroy the garden, ripping out all the plants and eating everything they could get their beaks on, and then they move to the neighbors' houses and dig out all their plants and scatter mulch everywhere. I know this because that's what they do if they get out of the pasture.

There is nothing more aggravating than planting and weeding and taking care of a long-season heirloom tomato, waiting all season for it, and the day before it's truly ripe having a chicken poke holes in it.

I think perhaps you don't have very many chickens.

I have 14 actually - barred rock hens 3 pekin ducks and 2 american buff geese . And a garden the size of a football field right next to my house filled w a salad bar of veggies . They ALL leave it alone. any time they've gone near it it's just been the outside . And I've called them back! We are farmers I have fields and fields of pumpkins , melon , beans , zucchini and tomatoe with in walking distance from my back or front door.

I have never planted flowers even before livestock so no-I didn't adjust my behavior for them that way. All I have done is taken time and effort to modify their behavior so they can fully free range safely . Come when I call you , and other commands - it works w dogs and other animals? . It can be done is all I'm saying . Ive done it w all of my flock . it takes time. it can be done Just because YOU haven't tried it - doesn't mean you should pass judgement on someone else's methods or advice .