I was dead wrong about letting chickens free range in our yard

For 2 years I kept my flock locked in a 10x10 run because I was convinced free ranging would end with a hawk or fox eating them all. My neighbor, who has kept chickens for 15 years in Portland, kept telling me it was fine if I just supervised the first few times. Finally gave in last spring and let them out for an hour a day. After 8 months now, I've lost exactly zero birds to predators. The eggs actually taste better (maybe because they eat more bugs and grass) and my girls are way less stressed. Has anyone else been scared to free range and then found it actually works fine most days?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_white392mo ago

8 months with zero losses? I nearly fell off my chair reading that. You mean to tell me all those horror stories about hawks swooping down in the first five minutes are just scare tactics? My neighbor lost three birds in one afternoon to a Cooper's hawk, but she lives right by a big park with tons of tall trees. I guess your yard just doesn't have the same predator traffic, or maybe your chickens are smarter than hers were.

betty_white392mo ago

Oh come on, you're telling me that coop placement and open yard design don't matter at all? Sounds like your neighbor set herself up for failure with all those trees right there, giving hawks a launching pad.

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patriciacarr2mo ago

@betty_white39 I get it, losing three birds in one afternoon would make me never let them out again too. But my yard is pretty open with just one big maple and neighbors on both sides, so maybe that helps keep the predators away. My girls are Rhode Island Reds and they stick close to the coop, not wandering off far. Different setups I guess...