Welcome back homesteaders! Today, we wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a hot-button issue not just for homesteaders, but seemingly for people in general. Should you free range chickens? Depending on who you talk with, you can get into some pretty heated debates on the subject. But, we’re not here to tell you how to live your life or run your homestead. So, rather than tell you the “right way” to do things, let’s take the opportunity to first consider the most common ways to raise chickens. From there, we’ll discuss pros, cons, and all the variables involved in free-ranging a majestic bird like our backyard chickens.
What Are the Options for Raising Chickens?
When push comes to shove, there’s probably 100 different ways people have come up with raising chickens. But, when you boil it down to the basics, there’s really only a few core paths to take. Let’s consider 5 core ways to set things up and then explore the pros and cons of some of them. These include:
- Coop-Raised: Raised exclusively in a coop. This is the one path we can’t endorse in any situation. So, while it is an option, we won’t go into detail here.
- The Mobile Coop: This is where you have a coop and small run built into a mobile unit. There are pros and cons to this option.
- Coop and Run: This is the path we’ve chosen. It involved building a coop and attaching it to a run so the chickens can move around freely, but are ultimately protected from predators through confinement.
- Fenced Area: This takes the run and opens it up. We won’t touch too much on this, but basically instead of having a run, you just make sure the fence is tall enough where you’ve put the chicken coop. The major draw-back that’s difficult to address is the potential of aerial predation in this setup.
- Free-Ranged: The ever-so-popular option today, this allows chickens to roam freely around the property. They still have the safety of a coop to return to for egg-laying and roosting at night, but it allows them to forage as nature intended.
The Mobile Coop Option
The mobile coop can be an excellent option if you have open pasture -especially pasture being unused by other livestock. The basic idea behind this is to create a lightweight coop on wheels. The coop is usually made as small as possible to accommodate whoever many birds you need it to. From there, you’ll build a hoop-structure around the coop. This allows the birds to get directly on the ground during the day and forage.
Since the coop is on wheels (or sometimes skids), it can be moved from spot to spot. Depending on the size of the coop, the pasture it’s in, and the number of birds, this will then be moved daily, weekly, or on some other regular schedule. The major benefit of this is that they get many free-range benefits from foraging while also helping to keep your pasture healthy. Another benefit is that this design is much safer than full free-ranging, as it gives them protection from predators.
However, there is a drawback to this. First, if you don’t have much (or any) open pasture to move them about, this can be impossible. For instance, the only real pasture we have is being used by the goats. The rest of the land is forested, so right now this sort of setup isn’t practical. The other con is the space the chickens have. Due to its mobile nature, you usually need to go as small as possible. In most cases, the chickens are limited to walking around and don’t really have the space to run or “fly” when the desire hits. In other words, it tends to be a cramped setup. Despite this, it can be an excellent option for people with pasture who have predators to contend with.
Coop and Run Combo
Our personal choice, this setup can come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Like any setup, there are pros and cons to this, but let’s consider the way we set things up first. We built an elevated coop in our case; some would put the coop (or henhouse) as more of a walk-in structure. The benefit to the elevated coop design is that it makes cleaning out much easier. Directly attached to the coop is a run. In our case, we gave them a nice, large run. In fact, it’s not uncommon for us to see them actually running in their coop. We also opted to give them a lot of head-space, so they can free fly when they desire.
With a setup like ours, the first benefit is the predator-resistant design. It would be quite difficult for anything to get in and bother our chickens. The next benefit is that they have plenty of head room and space to run around. However, not all runs are setup this way. In some cases, the run may be much more narrow and often times will be shorter. This negates some of the openness that we strived for, but it does still offer plenty of protection.
On the flip side, there is one major con to this layout: they don’t get to forage much. In fact, we took the time to make sure there was a good bit of grass in the run when plotting it out -that’s been gone since week one. Chickens eat a lot and without a huge area to roam, they will quickly work through and forage all the plant-life. Yes, they still get insects in their diet, but for us to give them any additional greens means physically bringing it to them in the run. Ultimately, this means they rely mostly on formulated chicken feed from the store and are therefore a bit more expensive.
For us, we choose this path because it offers protection. And, since we live in a forested area, they need as much of that as they can get.
The Free Range Setup
Finally, we get to the ever-popular option and the root of our question: should you free range chickens. First, let’s establish what free-ranging means in this context. The reality is, some people may have different definitions. But, for our purpose, we’re simply referring to chickens that are allowed to freely roam about the entirety of your property. This still means they have some sort of laying boxes, hen house, or coop to seek refuge in. However, they can go all around the property during daylight.
The big benefit of this that most people talk about is the freedom of the birds. Being able to freely roam is more “humane” as many people put it. And, maybe they’re right. If there isn’t a risk of them being gobbled up by the neighborhood fox, this is probably the best for that option. However, many people are raising birds on smaller lots and simply don’t have the luxury of free-ranging them. Another benefit is that free-ranged chickens get to forage for much of their diet. You’ll still want to give them some amount of feed, but the outdoors should provide no shortage of greens, insects, and other delectable treats for your birds.
Somewhat redundant at this point, but the biggest drawback is the predation concern. If chickens are left to roam freely, they are exposed to all the risks involved in that. And, natural selection can be a cruel mistress. So, you have to assess whether your setup is right for this sort of operation. If it is, we encourage you take that route. But, before you think you’re doing them a favor, make sure you’re not condemning them to a violent death.
Should You Free Range Chickens?
So, should you free range chickens in your area? If you’ve read this far, hopefully you can answer that for yourself. If in doubt, consider how risk-tolerant you are. In situations where you rely on those chickens for your food, the last thing you want is to have a predator take them away from you. For us, there is the secondary consideration that we simply don’t want to lose any of our chickens -we care for them too much!
Whether you free range chickens is a personal choice, and we’re not here to judge or tell you the best way to do things. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions, or reach out via one of our social media channels if you’re on the fence and want some advice. Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.