Tales From the Chicken Coop: Free Range Bliss
tammy August 10th, 2008
We always wanted free range chickens, so yesterday, we took a big gulp and opened the door of the chicken pen so our new flock could roam a bit, standing close by in case they decided to take off to parts unknown.
This made them so very happy. Their excited energy was obvious as they immediately started foraging through the wooded area near their pen, finding big fat worms, juicy bugs of all sorts, and delectable greens everywhere. Chicken heaven.
To my horror, one even got hold of a baby black snake, about the size of a worm. Chills up and down my spine!
They stayed close to the pen, never really roaming more than 10 yards away. Their water was still in the cage, so occasionally they popped in for drink.
Mid afternoon, it was apparently nap time for the youngsters, as most of them headed into the cage to rest for a while. Then after about an hour they headed back out.
Chickens will eat just about anything, we’ve discovered. We usually bring them lots of table scraps, and they especially like fresh dandelion greens. Today when we brought their evening feed, they weren’t all that hungry after their day of foraging, but most came into the cage to peck half-heartedly at the cracked corn we put down.
We’ve seen a fox out at night a few times in the past few weeks, so we wanted to make sure they were all inside the coop before dark. Even though we thought they would probably all come in to the roost on their own as the daylight faded, we didn’t entirely trust them to do it, and we didn’t want to be tromping through the woods in the dark, so we started rounding them all up then. Another hilarious chicken run, but we finally got them all inside.
The young chickens won’t be laying eggs probably until next spring, so we added a couple of full grown Rhode Island Red laying hens to our flock a couple weeks ago. They each give us one smooth brown egg every day. They are more like pets, coming up to us to socialize and letting us hold them and rub their heads. They also help keep the younguns in line, who always scatter when we approach and can get into quite a bit of mischief with each other.
We’ve identified at least three roosters so far. They’ve started squaring off in very comical displays of bravado. They have a lot of heart, but absolutely no clue of how to rule the roost yet.
One of the roosters is particularly mean. He likes to pull out the tail feathers of some of the others and eat them (the feathers). We may be eating HIM come fall!
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I loved your story and could just see all of running after the chickens. Makes me laugh. I remember the chickens from my Grandpas farm… they had a coop but could come out and walk around too. When I you mentioned the Rhode Island Reds….I got such visual excitement…I just may get my watercolors out and paint some. Thanks for bringing back memories and fun. Mary
This was a great read! It really sounds like chickens are great fun!
Love your first Free range adventure! We have 29 chickens and we free range in the afternoon once the laying is done for the day (don’t want to be hunting down eggs in the woods and blackberries), the girls are at the gate at 3pm waiting to be released and boy oh boy don’t be in front of the gate when it is opened…STAMPEDE!!!!
Have fun with your chickens and keep an eye on the smart ones, they can get into all kinds of trouble…~lol~…
I do think they are great fun, Rebecca! For such a small brain they sure do learn fast. After their first trip out, they now expect to go as soon as they see us. I see what you mean, Terry, about the stampede! If you do any paintings, Mary, I’d love to see them. Maybe you can post a pic to our email group??
Oh, you give my imagination such great fodder! Congrats on your Freewheelin’
Chicks. (;
Oh how fun! Hopefully I’ll be getting my girls before fall. Can’t wait.
congrats, Diane! Freewheelin’ chicks… I love it! What a cool name for them.