Does age matter when starting to free range?

[Isadora]

I just moved my guineas/pullets to their new coop outside. Once they get acclimated and comfortable, I want to start letting them out in the yard a little bit. Initially I'm going to use a movable fence around their coop so they don't venture too far and know to go back home when it gets dark. Does age really matter as far as letting them completely free range? They are all about 3 months old.

 

[Folly's place]

O yes! And experiences, mostly bad ones. Mine start going out after they are off their heat source, late in the day, so they want to go inside their coop fairly fast. We have adult birds, so the youngsters will start interacting with them outside a bit, and it helps them learn about alarm calls.
Chickens are relatively cautious, at least some are, but surviving a predator attack is a learning experience, sadly.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting question, I'll approach it two different ways. The way I read this you do not have older chickens or guineas, just these 3-month-olds.

The smaller they are the more things can eat them. A snake that can eat a small chick can't eat a grown chicken. A small hawk might have more interest in a smaller chick. To a fox, size won't matter. So there is the size aspect.

Are they more instinctively aware as they get older? I don't know but I doubt that age makes that much difference, Even baby chicks in a brooder seem to know that something overhead is a danger. I think Mary is right that experience is the great teacher.

Make sure that they know to return to the coop at night. And be out there at bedtime to make sure they can get home. I've had them trapped behind a fence and can't get to the coop a night or two until they figure it out. Ten feet away from a gate they had used a few times during the day and did not realize they could get through it.

 

[Isadora]

Yes, I don't have any older than the three months. I had the thought that their smaller size would make them more vulnerable to a wider range of predators, I just didn't know if waiting to let them out longer would give them any other kind of advantage other than growing larger.
My plan would be to let them out late afternoon initially so that they wouldn't roam too far from the coop before dark. The plan is to monitor them closely.

 

[Folly's place]

They need to start somewhere, true. And bad things can happen, but free ranging is always a risk.
Teach them to come when you call first, with treats. It helps when they are outside to know they will come running when you are there.
Mary

 

[sourland]

Smaller birds are more susceptible to predation - especially from raptors. Acclimation in a covered pen with access to shelter helps with raptor awareness/avoidance, but nothing is foolproof.

 

[Folly's place]

Our flock, usually thirty to sixty birds, free ranges most days on our farm. Every year one or two birds are killed by hawks; youngsters and bantams almost always. When we have an attack, our flock is back in their covered coop and run for two weeks, at least, so the hawk will try elsewhere.
Worse disasters have happened here; once, a daytime fox attack killed ten hens, and then one of our dogs got 2/3 of our flock when our dog fencing failed.
And having a truly safe coop and run takes effort, and sometimes rebuilding.
Mary

 

[cmom]

I have a coop for my youngsters (chick/grow-out coop). I have it divided with a pen on each side. I don't let the birds and free range anymore due to losses in the past but they have nice large covered pens. I put things like flock blocks, greens from the gardens and vegies in for them to peck at. I lost 14 birds once to a bobcat that went on a killing spree and several to a fox among other losses to other predators. They made the mistake of coming back after more so I eliminated them. I have seen many more since. I keep around 200 birds plus after hatching out. Everything likes poultry.

 

[aart]

Another thought...I have read that guineas are much less 'homed' to a coop,
and it might be a good idea to keep them confined for much longer.
Might be different if they are bonded to the chickens but you might want to post your when to range question in the guinea forum to get more and better advice on that.

 

[Isadora]

Another thought...I have read that guineas are much less 'homed' to a coop,
and it might be a good idea to keep them confined for much longer.
Might be different if they are bonded to the chickens but you might want to post your when to range question in the guinea forum to get more and better advice on that.

Thank you for mentioning this. I actually only have the chickens because I wanted to raise them with the guineas to hopefully help teach them to go back to their coop. We have a ridiculous amount of ticks here, just yesterday by 10:00 in the morning, I had already pulled three ticks off of my 3-year-old! (None were embedded on her, just crawling on her, so they were obviously freshly picked up) so our whole point of having the guineas and chickens free range is first for non toxic tick control in the yard, and the eventual eggs.
When I start letting them out, the chickens will get to go out with only one of the guineas. And then I will increase that number of guineas by one per day, as long as everything goes as expected.