FREE RANGING CHICKENS 101 | How To Train Backyard Poultry | PROS & CONS | Caring For Egg Laying Hens

Very good video! I have had chickens for years, I knew all these things, but u r very enjoyable to listen to so I listened to the whole thing and subscribed 😊

You are a ray of sunshine! I love your honesty. It’s refreshing. I love this channel!! Congratulations on the little one.

Nice tanekes for you ❤

How free are these chickens ?

Take a look at Speckled Sussex

Congratulations on your pregnancy!!!

Subscribed

at what age do you let them free range?

We dont have chickens but we raise quails. When we lived in Illinois in the middle of the fields and farmland, we never had any issues with predators. They were plenty of coyotes, hawks, owls, raccoons, skunks, possums and what have you but we never had any bother our quails. We lived there five years. 2 days after we moved to a more urban area in Florida and one of our birds was taken by a hawk! I think the reason you are less likely to run into issues with predators while living in a rural area than a urban area is because they have plenty of their natural preys to pick from just running around and so are probably less willing (or at least it's more of a choice for them) to take the risks involved with breaking in and taking "people" stuff.

Thank you for sharing your experience and practical knowledge, stay blessed and best wishes for your coming babby and live healthy happy and wealthy stay blessed 😊😊😊

I love this video! Everything you go into when you elaborate on related subjects is great! Not too much, but enough to address other questions I didn’t know I had! Thank you I ‘ve learned so much from you

Can a chickens in a huge run count as free ranged?

So I think I have commented on this video in the past 😂😂 I leave it on my TV and it replays a lot of video I have seen.

Anyway, I wanted to say that I also agree with you about these Polish chickens, I just got one chick and I have have noticed she can see things that I put down in front of her. At first I thought she didn’t want what I was putting down then I noticed she misses stuff much like my partially blind hen does. I noticed she can see when she is pecking the ground, she was pecking up flaxseed off my dark vinyl wood colored floor which is hard to see little seeds it seems she doesn’t , see peripherally. Or something she didn’t have feather yet now her crown is growing in so this will remain a mystery. If anyone one has noticed this share your experience please.

Hi! Quick question. Do the hens go back to their nesting boxes to lay their egg or do they just lay them wherever while ranging? I free range my chickens after a certain hour because of this reason. We have a big piece of land and Im afraid they will lay eggs anywhere and I will never be able to find them 😊

We surrounded our run and coop with crushed stone over the predator skirt. I noticed the stone also had chunks of shredded plastic in it. I take out what I can find but they are much better at finding it than I am! It has been a challenge to keep the girls from scarfing down the plastic chunks when they are outside of the run free ranging. They have chaperoned free range time because of stuff like this. Letting them out is easy. Getting them back in the run is work!

So you mentioned con #4 being egg hiding. What can we do about this? We have hens who have done this, I’ve found them out in the yard. Once I gather them, they pick a new spot. Now we have no idea where they’re hiding them.

Very interesting about the light colored chickens possibly being more at risk to air predators. We do free range our chickens but only when we are outside with them. We added an electric fence but they need to get to the whole yard to be happy. Interestingly we had a very large gathering and they were very good and friendly guests.

Question my chickens went in when I got dogs but two didn’t they jumped on top of the chicken coop is it cause it was too late and they can’t see the opening of the chicken coop I don’t know

I've lost only 2 birds in about 7 years. Hawks I think

Good job,and you’re going to be a great mother. It was pleasant watching you explain how you’ve experienced your chicken lifestyle.

I have semi free-range birds (chicken and duck). We're urban but have a big yard. Basically if I'm home they're out. My biggest issue outside of flying preds is the chicken going over/under the fences. Which then there are cars, cats, dogs, coyotes.... Which is why I only let them out supervised. I have noticed though a big reduction in feed and waste.

I have a polish and trimmed the front feathers and around his eyes. It lasts because feathers don’t grow back for a while.

Maybe the hippie polish just need a hair cut 😂

Nice

Fisher cats, bobcats, fox, black bears, hawks,coyotes, raccoons and skunks. That’s what we have here, maybe I missed one or two.

My neighbor has Free-range dogs, so I'm fencing in an acer of my property for my 14 chicks... I'm hoping that is still Free-range...??? I also just put up a resin shed and converted into a coop, it's 8 x 7 1/2 ft. And 8 ft tall. 6 really nice nesting boxes and automatic coop door.

I liked the video subcribed

Great video very informative. Please show some of the chicken on your next videos audience wants to see them when you're talking about them. Thank you

After 2 years 1 of my free rangers was killed on the road. Why did the chicken (try) to cross the road? No food over there and my yard is more interesting (less manicured)

Coyotes. Unless you can build a Fortress, its a Snack Bar.

U are so beautiful 🙏

Really enjoyed your video! It is about to become my third year of keeping chickens, and my experiences have been much the same. I live out in the country, and raccoons decimated my flock the first year. The best trap I have found for a raccoon is something called a dog-proof trap. You can Google it. Anyway, although I love getting fresh eggs, I really enjoy chickens that are fun to look at, and have tried a few Silkies, Jungle Fowl (which were not very smart and couldn't figure out how to fly back over a fence) and Yokohamas, but have had the best luck with Golden Phoenix chickens. The rooster from the first flock grew a tail two feet long! I have had much better luck with my second flock that is almost a year old now. I started out with too many roosters and had to give some away, so now I have one rooster and five hens, partly because my coop is small and I don't want to overcrowd them. The rooster is extremely alert, and seems really smart for a chicken 😉 and the hens stay close to him. They are allowed to completely free range during the day, seem to have an instinct to stay near cover, and are amazing flyers! The biggest challenge is trying to get them to lay in the nesting box, but they always come running when I get home, and I know why the chicken crossed the road...to find out what the treat is today!! 😁

I love this video.
You are a fantastic presenter,. And you can do that so fast . It is so interesting and appalling at thjs same time. So many great information as well ..

My neighbors chickens free range mine and his property which helps with bugs. Plus we feed them table scraps. I split his firewood and he keeps us supplied with eggs. Thanks and I’m blessed to have had your wonderful video pop up.

I heard a lady say how she deals with Ariel predators is having a few black chickens in the flock. She said it's because raptors think they are Crows and they don't wanna deal with crows. Idk how valid that is though.

Enjoyed hearing about experience.

Would you consider adding Guinea hens to your flock for the protection they provide?

Do they free range during snow storms or after big snow fall where snow is deep.

I never knew you could poison a chicken. I’ve always been told growing up that you couldn’t. I know they will canabalize a dead chicken.

My wife and I are going to start a small flock. We have about 5 acres in a rural area. We are bouncing back and forth between constructing a large run and free ranging. We understand the risks of predators. My question is this: My neighbor also has chickens that free range. They come onto my property all the time. We don't have a problem with that at all. But if we were to free range our chickens, is there a chance that both mine and my neighbors flock will combine? Will we end up with each others chickens?

Couldn't you just trim the feathers around the eyes on the polish chickens?

Love the Video. Ready to start free ranging more on my Ranch. 3 yrs in now but my coop was a 13x17 and I got 2 Roosters for my 13 girls. Respect and Salute

amazing how MANY people are interested in CHICKENS :) ... superb -- thank you --- hopefully we can have chickens on our small farm here soon --

I've been looking at these videos for some months and thinking that having a good size wheeled chicken tractor would give the best of both worlds. Then in the winter - Minnesota temps, we have a large coop and a fenced yard to protect from our abundant wildlife.

Do you let them out after they lay?

this reminded me of my very happy,idyllic childhood--when we had chickens a few times. . i wish time machines erxisted so that i could return to then..we lived in maine--so i,m sure that the climate is similar to wisconsin''s

My girls are free-range, and I live in a suburban neighborhood. My biggest problem is my girls think my neighbors yards their yard too, i end up cracking the gate open so theycanget back.. I make sure to gift eggs to them. I also get 100 crickets at a bait shop occasionally. That's fun..
I rake the leaves( scratched) into a pile w some corn and just watch them spread it out again.

Love your channel. New subscriber.