Chickens love to free-range, and many folks allow their chickens to roam freely around their yards, fields, and acreage to their heart’s content. Free-ranging a flock has plenty of benefits, including access to pasture and bugs, and helps to prevent issues that confined birds face. Sometimes, free-ranging flocks face issues that can be avoided. Here are a few tips to help make the experience better for the flock.
Free-ranging in the back yard. Photo Credit.
Know your predators. Be sure to check out which predators are in your area. Predators can attack from the ground or sky, and are out twenty-four hours a day. Consider supervised free-ranging. Consider predator deterrents, but accept the fact that free-ranging flocks will have losses to predators on occasion.
A Safe Place to Harbor. Free-ranging birds should have places to hide and seek shelter from the elements, predators, and any other perceived threats. Such places can be small nooks of branches, evergreen bushes, thick woods, and even man-made things such as pallets or farm equipment.
Foreign Objects. Chickens naturally peck at things out of curiosity. Sometimes small objects can be ingested and cause problems in the crop and digestive system of the chicken. It is a good idea to survey the area where your flock free-ranges from time to time. This includes picking up plastic pieces, nails, and other litter or garbage.
Out and about, the flock enjoys green grass. Photo Credit.
Long Grasses. Grasses longer than two to three inches long can get stuck and impacted in the chickens’ crops. Keep areas where the flocks are free-ranging mowed.
Body & Feet Inspections. Free-ranging flocks should regularly have their feet inspected for any injury and infectious issues such as bumblefoot. Chicken feet are susceptible to thorns, splinters, scrapes, wounds and other orthopedic injuries. It’s also a good idea to check their bodies over too- especially their combs and wattles. Keep a chicken first aid kit nearby.
This spot provides access to safety as well as a tasty free-ranging treat. Photo Credit.
Poisonous Plants. Some plants can be harmful to chickens, even ones that are safe for humans to consume. Try to remove or keep those plantings off limits for your flock.
Pesticides and Herbicides. Chemicals, whether synthetic or organic, can be potentially hazardous to your flock, or end up in their eggs that you eat. Take precautions found on the labeling, and when in doubt, don’t let your chickens out. If you would like more information on specific products used in your garden or yard, check out their Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).
6 Comments
Also consider not free-ranging in a pen without a roof and wire that does not admit rodents or wild birds, especially in areas hardest hit by the highly pathogenic avian influenza. 5/5/2015.
I’m engaged in an ongoing discussion about yard eggs. At this point, we are down to definitions, such as: Just what is a “yard egg”? How do yard eggs differ from other chicken eggs? Does the designation depend upon how the birds are housed? Is a “yard egg” one that is produced by free-ranging hens, or can a “yard egg” be produced by hens which are confined, but in a very large pen?
Have you any thoughts on this weighty subject? Are there any formal, authoritative definitions of “yard egg.”?
Thank you for your time and input.
I live in south Arkansas and have every predator known to man. what breed chicken would make the best free-ranging? Thanks for the help.
I like the heritage breeds. They lay good-sized eggs, and the predators of the sky don’t seem to bother them. Bantams, on the other hand, don’t have much to offer (egg-wise), and the hawks have an open buffet. We haven’t had any problems (so far) with ground predators. We live pretty far from all the neighbors. My wife is a stay-at-home mama. That helps a lot when it comes to the daytime predators. At night we keep the chickens locked up tight.
my biggest problem has been neibors letting their dogs run free and they travel a long ways terrorizing the neiborhood! just last week they killed my prize hen and rooster! it seems the only safe way to keep them is inside an enclosed pen? wire over the top as well!
I recommend a .410 shotgun. If the noise is too great for your neighborhood, look into purchasing a .17 pellet gun, which does not have an audible report. If you are a good shot, either of these would be more immediate, and probably more humane, that traps or poison.