Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

Thanks! Love this informative article!

I am a new chicken mom and have 4 girls that are 1 1/2 years old. While I live on 5 acres of undeveloped land, we are on family land of 172 acres in rural America. That being said, we have every type of preditor you can think of. So free ranging is just not an option for me.

That being said, I bought large 6 X 6 X 5 coop that sits off the ground and bought an extra 8 X 14 run that attaches it as a kit. All in it was abour $2300.00, so not too bad. This summer has been brutal here in GA with the heat. My coop /run is in the shade half the day (evening)but it is still super hot. I have taken measure to try to keep them cool, with water, several fans, frozen food and fruits, watering doent the run, Etc. The coop is next to our home. We have a large 48 foot covered deck that sits about 6 ft off the ground, so you can walk under it. The access to go under our house is in this area. I clean my run daily, so we really don't have any smell. Sowe have spent this week hardwiring the whole area under the deck, adding another 400 sq ft for them to roam and forage and connected it to the exisitng run. I learned that I can open the access door going under our house and cool air just poors out. So we are almost done. I need to make a wire screen to cover the door so they can't get under the house, but I am putting a fan there to blow out even more cool air for my girls. We are close to being done opening this area for them. I can't wait to see how they love it. Happy chickening.

Great ideas - and if I may, people should apply some of these things to their brooders. Baby chicks need stuff to play with and places to explore. It's so sad to me to see big brooders with nothing for the chicks to do! We always put in logs and sticks. Hay is a great idea too.

Enjoyed reading about your ideas for chickens without free ranging. I enjoy my 5 girls. They are always intertainting me.

This article was very helpful in giving me ideas on how to keep my ladies happy and healthy this year! I will definitely be utilizing several of the suggestions in this article. I love to sit with the girls now while they are in our garage in a large wire pen and I was kind of bummed out about how I was going to keep our friendship going once they moved to the big coop/run. I guess I never thought about just taking a chair out and sitting in the pen with them. Also lots of great ideas on things to help keep them stimulated and happy. I love it!

This is a very interesting article, written from experience. I have tried putting a mirror in the chicken coup and it certainly entertains them. I agree that spending time with the chickens is very important both for the chickens and for me. They make me laugh, they are so funny. We talk to each other as well. Love my four chickens

I loved this article! I already do some of the things listed. I have had exotic pet birds for years, and I do a lot of the same things for my chickens.

Great ideas!!!!

Great ideas shared!

Some great ideas, thanks.

Easy and enjoyable to read and understand, plus reminds us of the things we can do to occupy our feathered friends. Thank you.

I like these ideas and may incorporate some but you don’t mention chicken tractors at all. Mine gets moved once a week so they have new forage, plus it keeps them safe in a high predator area.

Great suggestions for how to keep chickens busy when free-ranging isn't practical - we only free range under supervision because of an abundance of local predators (especially the aerial ones) and have to think about new ways to offer enrichment often!

Great article!

Only thing is: Some people don't have - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- -. Just saying.

Thanks!

Love this article! There are some of your suggestions I am doing with my chickens already and some other that i will adopt from now on. I been keeping chickens since 2012 , my flock started with 3 hens and a rooster in a 3x4 coop with 10'x3' run.At some one point I had 9 hens and a rooster and upgrade both the coop and the run . I let them free range in our small backyard /garden /patio/ alotment for at least 1 hour in the evening every day. Now my flock is only 4 hens and a rooster and most of my hens are not laying as they use to, but they seems to be happy.

Tips for another addition:
- a chicken garden / square meter container with grass and herbs. Made with beams and mesh on top. This way, they can peck a little green every day through the mesh.
- Berry bushes. For shelter and treats in summer.

I also have an old garden bench in the run. But I'd rather not sit on it because of the poo. A real chicken swing was too difficult. Now the swing has a 3th rope to keep it a more steady.

I have 8 small bantams, in a coop (3m2) and run with lots of shelter (15m2). They are allowed to free range a few hours a day when someone is at home.

I worry about my chicks when I sell them to people, but I always give them this website. This is an excellent article on keeping chickens in a smaller area, with great ideas of how to keep them occupied.

Coconut oil treats and swings....gotta do that