All too often a title like this might sound upsetting. You know, lost more chickens to coyotes or other predators. This time its good news the proud hens, and a fun time with new life on the homestead. Jackie shares the experience below that seems to repeat itself more than several times each year. Also, I put a plug in for the hard canine workers who keep the ‘free range’ safe. – Marshall
Chickens want to be free
There are many methods of raising chickens. One of them is “free ranging”. What does that mean? At our place it means, the chickens who have escaped from the chicken palace and refuse to stay there, roam free. They are fed outside, and LOVE to roost where they want, mostly in the rafters of the barn area. Even in winter, there are a few who WON’T stay in the warmer chicken palace.
Silkie hen and her surprise chicks
With “free ranging”, though, is the daily egg hunt. When the kids were younger, it was a JOY to them to hunt for the eggs. Now that they are teens, it is a CHORE, which doesn’t always get done. Consequently, if the eggs do not get collected, you have “accidents”, or preferably, “surprises”. Allowed to roam free, hens often find some out of the way, SECRET places to hide their eggs. If not collected, they pile up, and if you have a broody hen, they get sat on and hatched. Most of the time, our kids know about it and don’t tell me because I will collect the eggs. Twenty one days later, the hen emerges from hiding…with chicks.
Surprises
This morning, once again, a hen hid her eggs, and emerged from her secret place with 6 chicks. She is one of Ondra’s silkie hens, who in 3 years, has NEVER been broody. This was one time even the kids did not know about it and were just as surprised as Marshall and I. Of course they are VERY cute. Earlier in the week, another hen hatched some chicks on the back porch.
So, the question is… How do you prevent your free ranging chickens from hiding their eggs and hatching chicks (that is, if you don’t want unplanned chicks)? LOCK THEM UP. That way you can collect the eggs easier, and you KNOW when they get broody.
That’s it for now. – Jackie
Who creates the ‘free range’?
Heidi, Ozzie, Molly (top to bottom) Chicken Guarding Dogs
If you saw the national forest area where we have our off grid home, you might wonder how many chickens we loose to the coyotes. Fortunately we have 3 hard working dogs that keep a close eye on the area. In fact, we have not lost a chicken for the last year and a half and we have Heidi, Ozzie, and Molly to thank. Heidi really protects the chickens and was caught herding chicks once! The other two dogs joined us a year ago and are Australian Shepard Labrador mixed, who are great with the chickens too.
To be accurate, however, the survival rate for Eric’s Guinea fowl has not been so great. We had a surprise hatch of about 20 or more last year. This year, we have lost about ten to coyotes. To be fair to the dogs, I have to explain a trait of the Guineas that works against their survival free ranging up here.
When the females are ready to lay eggs, they seek out places to make nests on the ground, mostly in the shrubs down the ravine near the house. This makes it nearly impossible to guard them, since there is lots of coyote cover for them to sneak around in. Eric constantly drives them away, and moves the nests, but still, this nesting habit does not work in their favor!
Have you ever lived with free ranging chickens? What kind of dogs do you plan on for guards? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!
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