Adventures in Free Ranging & a stupid mistake.

We have been discussing the prospect of letting the chickens free range for a couple of weeks. This past Thursday we were both home and I pushed for giving it a try. Pup was nervous and kept trying to put it off. He is/was nervous about predators, both wild and our cats/dogs.

It started almost by accident. Roo escaped while he was putting the hens in the tractors. I told him to let Roo go. He just wanted to keep an eye on his hens. He followed and hung out by the tractors, happy as a clam...or rooster could be. Ninny somehow escaped the tractor. I think she actually figured out how to open the door enough to get out. She might be the runt but she is a clever little runt! I told Pup to let her stay out to test the whole free range idea.

The cats watched intently and maybe stalked a little but Roo kept them away. Pup looked on the verge of a panic attack. 

Pup (in one of his diversions to NOT let them free range) said we were doing it all backwards. That we should let them start out from the coop so they would know where to go back to roost. So I suggested he move them all back to the coop and let them go from there. He grumbled a lot but agreed to it. In the process of moving them more escaped so he just let them all free. 

I herded them back towards the coop and let them explore.

 We kept a close eye on them. Pup even suggested we sit out there and watch them to be sure they were safe. Luckily the weather is gorgeous and that is what we did. We watched and laughed as the cats and kittens watched them intently. Crouching in the bushes to observe their every move. Running out every once in a while in an attempt to attack and quickly realizing the hens were not afraid and would chase them back! I think they know better than to even attempt it with Roo! He doesn't play those games.

They wandered around the outside of the coop then ventured out into the yard. They slowly explored all around the house, the edge of the woods and the barn,

It surprised me how they all stick together and Roo never lets them get too far from him. This reassured me some. He is doing his job, protecting them.

We had no problems with the cats actually attacking them and Havoc completely ignored them. I think the episode of him getting caught attacking the tractor stuck with him and he has learned his lesson.













Around 4 pm they all began heading towards the coop for the night. Pup herded them a little but they were ready to go back in and get settled in for the night. We were both concerned that getting them back in might be a challenge. 

We have let them free range every day since and so far so good. They seem to love it and now they rush to the door to get to go out in the yard but still come back to the coop in the late afternoon.

Pup is not quite as nervous about it. I have to admit I kind of miss that panicked look on his face. He doesn't have that look too often! I giggle every time I think about it! 

And now for an admission to y'all. We made such a tremendously stupid mistake and just realized it. (Even more stupidly)

When we were determining where to put the coop I didn't really care other than I wanted it fairly close to the house for security reasons. Pup picked a spot by the barn and fairly close to the house. He did a great job on the coop! He built it next to a big tree so they would have some shade during our hot summer days. We forgot one major thing though. Chickens NEED sun to lay eggs. The more sun the better. The calcium will not work to make the eggs without it. 

They were/are basically getting no direct sunlight.

DOH! 

The free ranging will help with that but also have to move the coop. We were already planning on doing that for other reasons but now we have to do it soon!

One of the purposes of this blog was to keep track of our successes and our mistakes and to maybe help others from making the same mistakes. 

This was a doozy! You have been warned! LOL