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The wife and I have always kept chickens.
We live in an upscale suburban type neighborhood near San Francisco on a 3/4 acre property.
Our chickens are kept in a pen because predators and the lack of time to hunt eggs down and I don’t want to **** off the neighbors.
It is what it is and our current 4 hens are no legal problems or upset neighbors.
Now that we are retiring to an extremely rural area up north we want to free range our chickens at our new place.
I just want them to be somewhat safe.
I don’t care about the neighbors because they are far away.
I’d like to have them come to the coop at night to lock them down for safety.
We have a “ships bell” on an out building near the future coop area that I’d like to ring and give treats to the hens to somewhat train them so they would come in at night.
Is that “doable” ?
I’m also thinking that I need to keep a lot more hens due to predators eating them.
How many hens do you think the wild life will harvest from me.
We are PNW.
Bears,cats,coons and all sorts of critters.
Thank you.
Andy
The wife and I have always kept chickens.
We live in an upscale suburban type neighborhood near San Francisco on a 3/4 acre property.
Our chickens are kept in a pen because predators and the lack of time to hunt eggs down and I don’t want to **** off the neighbors.
It is what it is and our current 4 hens are no legal problems or upset neighbors.
Now that we are retiring to an extremely rural area up north we want to free range our chickens at our new place.
I just want them to be somewhat safe.
I don’t care about the neighbors because they are far away.
I’d like to have them come to the coop at night to lock them down for safety.
We have a “ships bell” on an out building near the future coop area that I’d like to ring and give treats to the hens to somewhat train them so they would come in at night.
Is that “doable” ?
I’m also thinking that I need to keep a lot more hens due to predators eating them.
How many hens do you think the wild life will harvest from me.
We are PNW.
Bears,cats,coons and all sorts of critters.
Thank you.
Andy
Chickens usually return to the same roost every evening about the same time. As long as they know that's their safe place, they should come to roost whether you call them or not.
If you want free range, predators will kill all if them once they find an easy meal.
Day or night, they'll take them at any opportunity.
You can free range, but be prepared to take out any predator that finds your flock because they won't stop as long as there's a free meal to be had.
Yep, chickens are smart enough to return to the coop at night...start them off there for a couple of weeks, then let them out....just be sure to close the door at night. We lost a bunch one night, when a weasel got in through a silver dollar size hole in the floor...he'd kill one, try to drag it out through the same hole, get frustrated, go back for another and tried again and again and again....cleaned us out. Chickens on the roost, in the dark, are oblivious to what they can't see...so they just sat there and were picked off, one by one.
We keep chickens in an area in western Washington where we have coyotes, eagles, hawks, cougars, bears;weasels; raccoons etc. very nearby, I have photographed them with our wildlife cam!... but we have never lost an adult chicken (we lost one baby chick to a tiny sharp-shin hawk once!) Our chickens free range inside a perimeter fenced area with our other livestock, and I would definitely recommend having dogs.
I have a large chicken run, but during the summer my chickens loved to go outside the run and forage. They would always go back to the coop when it got later in the day. I didn’t think much of letting them run around outside the run while I was home and out in the yard.
One day around 3 in the afternoon, while I was outside working a couple hundred feet away or so, a lynx ate 4 of my chickens in broad daylight. I know it was a lynx because I saw him finishing up. He didn’t leave till days later. Just hung out in the same spot hoping the tasty chickens would come back outside.
I haven’t let the remaining 9 out of the run since. I’m just going to expand their existing run and put them in the chicken tractor if they want fresh ground to peck around in.
Only free range if you’re ok with losing chickens. I didn’t think it would happen to me, until it did. But they’ll always return to their coop before dark if you do let them out, no bell needed.
A lot depends on your actual situation: really rural (neighbors 1/4 mile or more away) vs in town or in a subdivision, the predators in your area (bears, mt lions & such vs "the usual" 'coons, weasels, hawks, skunks & such).
Chickens come home to roost at sundown- no need to call them, but do train them by keeping them locked in a coop with run for a week or two when they finally get old enough to put out. Do the same when they get old enough to lay-- that way they find & get used to the nesting boxes.
Chickens are pretty smart. They tend to seek cover from bushes & trees, so day time attacks (usually only hawks) are avoided. Nite-time attacks from varmints are avoided by a solidly built coop kept closed at nite.
Once the varmints find the coop, they'll keep coming back, and then you've got trouble. Keeping dogs & barn cats helps, as does living well out in the country with no close neighbors. Raccoons & skunks like living in/near groups of homes where they get easy pickin's.
I keep my coop in a 3 acre hickory grove for good cover, with 5 barn cats & 2 dogs roaming about. The hens wander no more than ~150 ft away from the coop. Haven't had problem with predators in 3 yrs (knock on wood) and rarely have to hunt for eggs.
Yep, chickens are smart enough to return to the coop at night...start them off there for a couple of weeks, then let them out....just be sure to close the door at night. We lost a bunch one night, when a weasel got in through a silver dollar size hole in the floor...he'd kill one, try to drag it out through the same hole, get frustrated, go back for another and tried again and again and again....cleaned us out. Chickens on the roost, in the dark, are oblivious to what they can't see...so they just sat there and were picked off, one by one.
Regards
Gemstone1
I've heard that story too many times. Weasels are the worst. That's exactly what they do. Able to carry them off or not, they'll go through the whole flock and won't quit until they are done. Terrible animals. So sorry to hear that.
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