Free Range Chickens Without Fence

A fence is the best combo with a chicken coop.

Free range chickens without fence.

Fence your garden in and keep your chickens out. This will allow chickens to get out of their coop and enjoy a spacious activity area without the risk of getting out your yard or being attacked by wild predators. Chickens will range farther if their yard is not entirely open but includes trees and shrubs offering shade from the hot sun relief from blowing winds and protection from flying predators. An experienced pasture raised poultry expert robert plamondon shares his thoughts on the best methods of keeping free range chickens.

Understand that your free range or confine range chickens will always be more at risk of injury and death from predators than chickens raised entirely within a chicken coop and adjoining secure outside pen. That said the flock only gets to roam when we are home so our extra activity might scare away any predators. You can fence your chickens favorite plants in with chicken wire or you can put a fence around your entire garden. There are some things that might work to keep your chickens out of your garden and then there are entirely fool proof things like fencing.

Chickens will stay close to the coop and will not scratch through deep snow for food. The road isn t too far away from the coop but they don t seem to go that direction. Flickr user naomi is your family good with chickens on the deck or the porch. We free range without a fence but we have 5 5 acres and no neighbors in sight of the house.

I have found that the best way of containing free range. In some locales it may be difficult to have a fence or impractical to have perimeter fencing. Whatever works best for you. Free range chickens don t stay within property lines without fences.

Many people allow them to free range for short time each day but to keep the chickens from wandering too far they limit recess to no more than a couple of hours and often just a half hour. Your neighbors may not love chicken poop or pecks.