Should I Free-Range my Chickens?

There is nothing I like better than seeing my homestead flock happily pecking around in the yard, garden, and surrounding woods with the warm sun on their backs and the lush grass (or dried leaves) under their feet. I know they are doing what instinctually comes natural for them, and they’re lovin’ it! The decision on whether or not to free-range your flock is not so much of a debate as much as it is a matter of what you feel comfortable with for your homestead flock. Free-ranging your chickens is risky and involves some responsibility. However, there are many benefits to free-ranging your flock on the homestead. Let’s examine the pros and cons of free-ranging on the homestead so you can decide what is best for your flock.

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It’s Your Decision:

Whether you free-range your chickens is strictly a decision that has to be made by you. There is no right or wrong decision. Obviously, chickens love free-ranging and foraging for their own food because that is what their ancestors did. However, even confined chickens can be perfectly content if they are managed correctly.

Having a free-range homestead flock will look different for each homestead. Some flocks are allowed unlimited access to as much space as they can roam on the homestead. Others have large pastures to forage through. Then there’s flocks who get to free-range all day, and still other flocks gets certain free-range times throughout the day. Free-ranging can be adapted to your homestead flock!

If you are torn between the two options for your flock, there is some good news! There is some middle ground between having a completely free-range flock or a confined flock! Hybrid free-ranging (as I call it) involves many different methods that help reduce the risk, liability, and responsibility of all out free-ranging your chickens. A few hybrid free-range methods you may consider include large fenced pastures, chicken tractors, and supervised free-range times.

When I refer to free-ranging while discussing the pros and cons, I am talking about chickens that are allowed to roam and forage in a yard or pasture without fences or protection. This includes supervised free-ranging. However, some of the pros and cons apply to different hybrid methods as well.

Pros of Free-Ranging

#1. Healthier Eggs & Meat

There may not be scientific evidence that proves that free-range chicken eggs and meat are healthier, however, there is evidence that certain foods consumed during free-ranging improves the nutritional value of poultry meat and eggs. Chickens that are fed a corn and grain diet do not have as nutritionally rich eggs as compared to free-range chicken eggs.

The extra protein, greens, and other foods consumed while foraging all supplement a chicken’s diet. Some of the nutrition in that food is transferred to the eggs and meat a chicken provides.

Please note the difference between free-range and pasture-raised when it comes to poultry labels on meat and eggs. Free-range does not necessarily mean that the chickens are able to roam around outside. Pasture-raised on the other hand, means that the birds have been outside on a pasture.

Note: Confined chickens can still get some of the nutrients that a free-range flock would consume even if they can’t free-range. Give them handfuls of greens, clover, and even piles of composting leaves!

#2. Healthier Chickens

Free-ranging creates healthier chickens. The additional nutrients they acquire from free-ranging helps their body build a strong immune system. The chickens are also exposed to various bacteria and protozoa while free-ranging. When encountered in limited quantities, those potentially disease-causing organisms can help a chicken’s body build up the antibodies to fight disease.

The exercise provided by free-ranging also helps keep the homestead in a fit condition that is optimal for good health, productivity, and longevity.

From exercise to diet to mental stimulation, free-ranging helps chickens stay healthy, both mentally and physically. It prevents bullying, aggression, and other bad behaviors by providing plenty of space, distraction, and encourages natural behaviors.

Free-ranging can be beneficial for flocks with multiple roosters as well as for integrating new chickens into the homestead flock.

Note: You can help promote good health in a confined flock too! Make a chicken playground in their pen and provide mind stimulating activities to keep your confined chickens busy and active. Check out these healthy boredom busters for your flock!

#3. Save Money

Free-ranging your flock may help you save money. This should not, however, be a deciding factor. Your flock’s diet and care should never be compromised in an effort to save money. That being said, there are simple things you can do to save money without decreasing the quality of care your chickens receive. Free-ranging is one of those things. While free-ranging, your chickens are consuming foods that provide nutrients and fill them up.

Free-range chickens still need to be provided with a complete chicken feed to ensure they get all the nutrients they need in a large enough quantity. However, chickens that free-range will eat less of the regular chicken feed since they are finding other foods to supplement their diet with while foraging.

I find that during the summer, when my flock free-ranges more, that I go through feed bags way less quickly than in the winter. My flock of approximately 25-30 chickens goes through one 40 lb bag of feed a week during the winter. That same 40 lb bag can last almost two weeks during the summer.

Note: Saving money with confined chickens is tricky. You can offer them treats and supplements, but it gets tricky because you have to balance nutritional needs without compromising their health.

#4. Provides Good Exercise

Free-ranging provides good exercise for chickens. Chickens need exercise too! An obese chicken will stop laying and be liable to have many health issues related to the excess fat surrounding the organs. While free-ranging, chickens move around a lot and are often busy scratching through leaves. All those activities burn calories and fat.

Exercise goes right along with healthy, disease-resistant chickens. You may notice that your flock will gather under shaded shrubs or other protected platforms for a quick siesta time while free-ranging. Free-ranging uses more energy, both mentally and physically, which is healthy for your flock.

Note: Confined chickens can be kept active with stimulating items like new perches, chicken swings, teeter totters, and tunnels. Make sure you switch things up frequently to keep them from getting bored of the same items.

#5. Pest Control

A free-range flock provides great pest control on the homestead! Chickens are omnivorous and there is nothing they like better than a few bugs, grubs, and worms in their diet. Bugs that are pests for us or detrimental to the garden make a tasty treat for chickens!

That being said, you want to make sure your chickens are free-ranging in natural, safe areas. Grass and yards that have been sprayed with herbicides and pesticides are not safe for chickens. Choose one or the other: natural pest control by free-ranging your flock, or pesticides, which can still be dangerous for your chickens if it is sprayed near them or their coop. On the homestead, it is best to stick to natural pest control, such as your homstead flock!

Allow your flock to forage in the garden before and after planting season. You can also allow them controlled access to the garden during the growing season by using chicken chunnels or fencing in crops that may also be appealing to your chickens. Your homestead flock can help control garden pests even if they don’t have full access to the garden.

Note: Confined chickens are not as useful for pest control since they can only eat the pests that come within the reach of their confines.

#6. Helps with Cleanliness

Free-range chickens make less of a mess in their coop and enclosure. The more time they spend free-ranging, the less they have to hang out in their coop and enclosure, which means less poop that needs to be managed or cleaned up. As long as the chickens have plenty of space to free-range, the poop in the yard should not build up or harm the plant growth. It will compost and breakdown in the soil to provide nitrogen rich fertilizer.

I have also noticed that when I free-range my chickens, they poop less! So not only are they pooping in the yard instead of their coop and enclosure, but when they do poop in the coop and enclosure, there is less of it! That means less for me to have to clean up every morning! My theory is that they are consuming more nutrient rich foods that can be used completely by the body, thus creating less waste that needs to be eliminated.

Note: When chickens are confined, you will have to keep up on manure management. That usually means daily, weekly, and yearly cleaning routines. Learn how to clean your coop and enclosure properly to promote good health even in a confined flock!

#7. Fertilizes the Yard

Chicken poop is natural fertilizer! When your chickens free-range, they are providing a healthy application of natural fertilizer to your yard! Like I mentioned earlier, if there is plenty of space for free-ranging, the plant growth will benefit from the added chicken poop fertilizer. Chicken poop will compost down naturally, adding nutrients and nitrogen to the soil.

I have noticed that my backyard, where my flock mostly free-ranges, looks nicer and the grass is healthier than my front yard, where the chickens are not allowed to free-range.

Note: Confined chickens can still provide helpful fertilizer! Their droppings can be turned into compost and sprinkled over gardens or spread lightly over the yard. Just beware that fresh chicken poop can kill plants, so too much fresh fertilizer at one time can have negative effects! Allow the chicken poop to age or compost it with other green and brown materials to create a rich fertilizer beneficial for gardens and yards!

Cons of Free-Ranging

#1. They Eat Everything!

Chickens will eat just about anything and everything! While that may be good when it comes to controlling weeds and pests, it’s not so good when the chickens can’t distinguish between the intentionally planted stuff or the good bugs. A weed to them is the same as the lettuce plant you so carefully nurtured.

Gardens, potted plants, and flowers are all in danger when your chickens free-range. Don’t bother reading the lists of plant that chickens won’t eat. It all depends on the chickens, some won’t eat those flowers, others will devour them! Even though chickens will generally avoid plants and flowers that are harmful for them, it is still not a good idea to plant potentially dangerous plants around the coop or chicken yard in an effort to landscape the area.

Note: There are a few things you can do to help prevent free-range chickens from eating all your plants, but never underestimate the ability of a chicken who wants a snack! Putting cages around plants, fencing off gardens, and creating barriers are just a few options for protecting your plants.

#2. They Will Dig Anywhere

Chickens love to scratch and dig. It is their natural instinct to look for bugs and grubs and to take dust baths. Free-range chickens don’t care where they forage… the yard, along the sidewalk, around fence posts, the woods, all are prime spots for tasty snacks and provide fun dust baths.

Leaves that are so carefully raked out of the yard are all tossed back into the yard by your ‘helpful’ yard crew of fluffy butts. Those little spots of loose dirt around your patio, near your garden, or around the bird feeder are prime spots for a dust bath party. Even if you provide your flock with their own dust bath spot, you can be certain they will choose a different spot for their bath in a less-than-perfect spot.

Note: Trying to prevent random holes from being created in un-wanted spots is tricky. Start by trying to eliminate any spot that looks like it has loose dirt. You may even have to fence off areas that are prime dust bath spots. Just make sure you still leave some good areas for dust bathing, since chickens need to dust bath to keep their feathers healthy and to ward off external parasites.

#3. Ruin Yard Landscaping

Do you have this pretty picture of a beautifully landscaped homestead yard with a few free-range chickens happily wandering through it? Forget it. That picture requires a lot of patience, hard work, perseverance, and out-smarting birds in order to accomplish it. Mulch, fresh dirt, stone walkways, bushy plants, and pretty flowers are all ingredients for a chicken playground. Dirt to bath in, walkways to poop on, and plants to eat!

That being said, some landscaping can be accomplished even when you have a free-range flock. You just have to be careful about what you choose and keep in mind the destructive nature of chickens. Outsmart your feathered friends and you could have a landscaped yard and free-range chickens. This may mean fencing, less pretty but more hardy plants, or more expensive but less enticing landscape materials.

And don’t worry, you’re on a homestead… so everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Nature is often the best landscape artist!

Note: Landscaping with chickens is tricky! Either you have to choose hardy landscape options or else fence off appealing areas. Stones are a good option and mulch can be used sometimes too. My chickens initially loved the mulch around their coop but then lost interest. Plants such as grasses, vines, and geraniums seem to not draw as much attention either.

#4. Encourages Predators

Probably the most weighty factor in the free-range decision will be the risk you incur from predators. Many animals have chicken on their dinner menu and will quickly figure out where they can get a free snack with minimal work. Free-range chickens are exposed and tantalizing for predators. These predators can range from sneaky but bold ground predators to quick and deadly sky predators, and may even include other family pets.

Free-ranging your chickens and knowing that a predator could attack at any time requires a special degree of mental preparedness and understanding. The food chain is real and chickens are near the beginning. Also be prepared to take on the responsibility of other pets, like cats and dogs, and neighborhood pets. Stray dogs are especially a liability hazard to free-range chickens.

Note: If you free-range your chickens you must accept the fate that you will have at least one predator incident. Predator proofing the coop and yard can help prevent predator attacks but it by no means eliminates the possibility. As far as managing pet cats and dogs, you will just have to make sure one or the other is contained. If the chickens are free-ranging, the dog will have to stay in the kennel or the house. However, dogs can be trained to accept and even protect the homestead flock!

#5. Chicken Poop Everywhere

Let me repeat… chickens poop everywhere. Free-ranging your chickens keeps the poop from making the coop and enclosure dirty, but it also allows that poop to get in other, possibly unwanted, places. While it makes great fertilizer for the yard, it doesn’t look quite as appealing plopped on the back porch. Porches, decks, patios, sidewalks, chairs, and tables may end up with chicken poop on them.

The days of walking barefoot though your yard will end and house shoes will HAVE to stay in the house. Yard shoes may even be required if you don’t want chicken poop on the bottom of every pair of shoes you own!

Also, if you have a pet dog, you may find that he has a new favorite food: chicken poop. Some dogs love chicken poop and will happily walk through the yard and vacuum it up, whether you like it or not!

So yes, free-range chickens means you will also have a new element of poop management to consider.

Note: There is not much you can do about chicken poop everywhere when free-ranging your chickens. You can fence off areas to prevent them from pooping in those areas, but I just find it easier to hose off spots that need to be cleaned. Rain does a pretty good job at cleaning things up too. I also wear backyard flip flops so that I don’t get my other shoes dirty.

#6. Wandering Chickens

Chickens are wanderers. They inherited this trait from their wild ancestors who would forage through the forest floor looking for food, often covering lots of ground within their territory. Even coop-trained chickens will wander. Chickens who wander into neighbor’s yards, cross the road, or into the woods can be nuisances, expose themselves to dangers, and cause frantic search-and-rescue missions to be started.

Along those same lines, if your hens are not nesting boxed trained, be prepared to go on Easter egg hunts on a regular basis. If you’re lucky (or not so lucky) you may even have a broody hen go missing for a while only to re-appear with more additions to the flock.

Note: While coop training your chickens does help prevent wandering, you will still have to be proactive about making sure your chickens don’t wander too far out of their territory. You can train chickens not to go in certain areas, but it takes time and perseverance.

I love that my chickens are trained to come when I shake a treat bag. So, if they are wandering too far out of their territory, I just shake the treat bag and they all come running! Chickens do have good memories though, and they will be persistent if there is something they want even if it is out of their range.

#7. Guest Problems

Some people are not as fond of birds, even domestic birds, as us modern pioneers. If you have guests over frequently, you may find a few people who aren’t as thrilled to see happy chickens wandering through your homestead yard. Plus, some people are not as tolerant of chicken poop all over the place. Having guests over and having free-range chickens becomes especially tricky if you have a protective rooster.

Guests can also present a bio-security hazard for your flock. Chickens can pick up diseases that have been brought in on other people’s shoes and clothing. However, there are some bio-security practices you can implement to provide protection for your flock.

Note: An easy fix to this con about free-ranging would be to just keep your flock in their coop and enclosure when you have guests over. This may mean you have to train your chickens to come when called so that they are easy to put in quickly when you have guests over.

#8. Health Hazards

I mentioned earlier that free-ranging creates healthier chickens. The flip side to that positive aspect is the fact that free-ranging can present health hazards as well. Pointy sticks, rough wood, scraps of metal or lost nails can all cause cuts, scraps, and injuries to free-ranging chickens.

Also, what a chicken eats while it free-ranges can cause health issues. Bugs, especially earthworms, can be carriers of worms and other parasites. Wild birds carry external parasites and other diseases. Chickens are exposed to more bacteria and protozoa that rub off on the ground when people walk through your yard.

Free-ranging can help your flock build up their immune system, but when they are exposed to large quantities of harmful bacteria or if they consume too much of a parasite carrier, they could become ill. Carefully managing the free-range area can help prevent bacteria and parasite carriers from getting out of hand.

Note: The only thing you can do to prevent health hazards if you choose to free-range is to be pro-active about disease prevention. Naturally worm your flock in spring and fall. Give them immune boosting supplements like garlic and be prepared for when an injury or ailment does occur.

Should I free-range my homestead flock?

Hopefully these positives and negatives about free-ranging will help you make an educated and wise decision about whether free-ranging is right for your and your homestead flock. Free-ranging is not for everyone. It requires a special mental mindset to free-range your flock. Personally, I love watching my flock forage in my yard and in the woods adjacent to my homestead. I do supervise free-range, which does not eliminate all the dangers, but at least I get to see my flock happily enjoying their freedom for a little bit each day! Free-ranging is natural and healthy for chickens. Find out why I lean towards free-range homestead flock in this article: 8 Reasons Why Chickens Should Free-Range.

The choice is all yours! Whatever you choose, enjoy your flock and their funny antics! And don’t forget, we share weekly tips for raising a healthy homestead flock in our modern pioneer newsletter!

by Alexa