The day we said goodbye to free ranging! 😕

[Rick589]

We’ve seen a hawk hanging around from time to time, otherwise we really don’t have much of a predator issue. But, we have a secured run and we let the chickens out for a few hours toward the end of the day to free range while we supervise because of the hawk, and just not wanting them to drift too far. We’d like to have them out all day but with the hawk and us not necessarily being available all day to watch them we found this to be, at least for now, a good compromise.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I had hawks take chicks not 10 feet from me, they don't care. They know I can't catch them. Human supervision of chickens is a joke to hawks. Free range and assume the risks, or don't. To each their own, no judgment. What's right for you is right for you and it's nobody else's business.

So true, we have to do what fits our situation or what makes us satisfied with the animals we care for.

 

[Sic]

There are breeds that do better than others in a free range environment, that have more predator awareness. But we have a lot of predator pressure, especially bald eagles. I rely on my dogs, they deter predators just with their presence, they alert on both aerial and ground predators.