"Sort Of" Free Rangers??

[bcmama]

I have 6 new girls and I have been letting them out in the evening for about an hour supervised. They have about 12 sq/ft per bird in their run and 5 sq/ft in their coop but I know how much they enjoy being out. Problem is I can not let them out all day because of wildlife in the area (my chickenless neighbor just found a half eaten chicken in her yard that was dropped off by some critter, not my chicken) and my dogs who have been accepting of the new girls as long as they stay in their house.

So my question is are there any other "sort of" free rangers out there and how is it working out for you? Every time I go in to feed them they run for the door and I feel bad, but I give them a variety of different things to eat throughout the day and they do get their evening romp through the yard.

Just curious??

 

[sumi]

We let our chickens free range on our 1.9ha property until we moved recently. They now have a coop and run (I have no idea how big is is exactly, but it's more than adequate. Because they share the yard with a small flock of bantams I leave them in the run until late afternoon when I let them free range a bit, supervised, so they don't mess with the bantams. They've adapted well to this new arrangement and really enjoy being let out. To keep them entertained during the day I throw weeds and other greens in their run and make mud puddles for them to scratch in.

 

[bcmama]

Mud puddles sound good. I will have to try that. Thanks!

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Lots of BYC members do exactly what you do. My girls get one or two hours in the yard, maximum, before bedtime. Honestly I never expected to give them any free time, but they got out of their temporary run daily and after I saw how easy it was to manage them -- they put themselves to bed -- I made free time intentional. They've happily helped with ant control on our patio. I don't free range them all day because we have hawks and I have dogs that I don't completely trust yet.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Weeds, seeds, scraps and a sprinkler are the in-run activities here.