Letting Your Chickens Out to Forage For The First Time

Hi Y’all! Not sure how many of you are Newbie Chicken Keepers, but I have a friend that is, and she recently asked me this question:

“I would like to let my girls out of their pen at times, but I’m so afraid they will run away. Will they stick close to us? Or will they try to fly away? Or worse, not let us catch them and put them back into their pen? Having issues with this, and there are times I wish we could just let them run around the yard. BTW, it’s not fenced. I’d appreciate any in-put you could give me.”

My Answer:

They’ll stick around. I like to start by letting them out late in the evenings…an hour or so before time for them to go to roost. That late in the day, they will instinctively not stray too far from where they sleep. I also like to give a small treat at the same time, while calling to them, “Here chook, chook, chooks, c’mon babies!” (or whatever you want to say.) Scratch is a good treat to use, or black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) that you can buy for wild birds, or dried meal-worms; any thing you can just toss out a handful of, even crumbled stale bread or cornbread. [I learned that ‘old farm-wife trick’ whilst I was still just a little FarmGirl, watching my Granny toss a handful of cracked corn to the ‘girls’, while calling “Here, biddy, here biddy.”] They learn to associate that call with something good to eat. Once I get them used to getting their treats when I call, when they are out foraging, I can call them up any time, and they will come running. [It’s best to toss a small handful of scratch or BOSS, each time you call them up, just to reinforce the concept that “Mommy’s calling; that means treat time.”]
When it comes time to roost they will coop up…just leave the gate open and they’ll put themselves back in. After a few days or a week, you can let them out a little earlier, and then a little earlier, until they are free-ranging all day, if that is your desire. Some prefer to keep the birds penned until late in the day, to ensure that (most) of the egg laying is finished. [Although, not all hens lay in the morning time. By checking your nests frequently through out the day, you’ll get a good idea of the laying habits of your flock.] Other folks are only comfortable with letting their chickens have supervised free-range time, while they can be outside to keep on eye on them. Nothing wrong with that either.
As far as the yard being unfenced, I kept chickens for years in an unfenced yard, and even now it’s just goat wire…they can go right thru it…ours range all over…even into the neighbors yards, but they always come back home to roost at night. My biggest worry was (& still is) neighborhood dogs, but at the moment we have none, at least none that are a threat to the chickens. Of course, grumpy neighbors can be an issue, too. Not everyone loves chickens like we do. We’re fortunate to have neighbors that don’t mind our chickens chasing the grasshoppers in their yards. In fact, they appreciate the free pest control. 🙂

Well, I hope this helped to ease my friend’s worries, and I hope it will help someone else that might have similar concerns.
Until then, y’all be blessed, and be a blessing…

Help Your Chickens Keep Their Cool This Summer

Well, after Saturday’s high of 109 degrees, and multiple trips out back to change water, and spray down the shady areas, the Farmer went shopping on eBay. We have a Misty Mate Pro Outdoor Patio Mister on the way…30′ long…to go along the eve of the house on the north (shady) side to try to help the chickens ‘beat the heat’. Meanwhile, with triple digit temps in the extended forecast, and no apparent relief in sight, it’s more of the usual: change the water, run the sprayer, (several times a day) and freeze ice jugs. So far we’ve not lost any birds to the heat, but it has been only because we have been diligent to do everything we can to help our birds keep cool.

Now, I don’t know how hot it is where y’all are, but I know much of the country is suffering from some extreme heat. So, if you keep chickens, be it just a few or upwards of a couple hundred, like the Farmer & I have, here are a few tips/tricks I’ve learned over the years to help your chickens beat the summer heat:

Ice in their water pans/watering founts…we freeze bottles/jugs of water and just lay the bottles in the pans (When I was a kid, on Granny’s farm, we froze water in the 3 lb coffee cans, and just put the whole ‘block’ of ice in there). If using water founts, freeze ice in shallow pans, & break into large chunks to add when you refill the founts. Or you can simply freeze water in empty plastic tubs, like cottage cheese, margarine, sour cream, etc come in, even a 16 or 20 oz water/soda water bottle, overnight, and then plunk it into their water founts in the morning. Ice cubes will work of course, too, but they will melt more quickly, so the water won’t stay cool for as long. Larger “blocks” of ice will help keep their water cool all day, and can help your chickens stay cool in the worst of the summer heat!

Another thing we do is keep shallow pans (like 9 x 13 baking pans) with water for them to wade in…ours will stand & scratch in the water. So funny! A small kiddie pool works, too, for large fowl breeds. I’d recommend putting a big rock in the pool, near the edge, to make it easier for them to get out of the water.

Frozen veggie or fruit treat blocks…Freeze chopped raw cabbage, shredded carrots, chopped apples, chopped cantaloupe, shredded summer squash [great for those over-run with squash from their garden!] leftover peas, green beans, stuff like that, in blocks of ice [disposable foil pans are great for this] . Chickens will enjoy pecking at the ice to get to the treats, & they can drink the water as the ice melts. Use any kind of veggie/fruit treats you would normally give, EXCEPT CORN! Corn should NOT be fed when the temps are high. [It is a high energy food, it actually raises the body temp…that’s why it is good to add cracked corn to their diet in the winter.] You can also freeze wild bird seed in ice blocks as treats.

Frozen watermelon/watermelon rinds (I like to freeze the water melon rinds & add them to a shallow pan of water. It chills the water for drinking, and the chickens enjoy pecking at the frozen rinds).

Put a fan in the coop. Frozen jugs of ice placed in front of the fan can cool the coop even more. Even with a fan, be sure the coop is properly vented so hot air doesn’t get trapped against the ceiling. We don’t use fans because our chickens are not confined to the coop, except at night, and the top half of the front walls of our coops is just rabbit wire (1″ x 2″ heavy mesh). The wire keeps out predators, but allows for good ventilation, even at night. (It bad weather we lower a tarp to cover over the wire.) Hosing down the OUTSIDE walls and roof also helps to cool the coop through the process of evaporation.

A mister(s), best used OUTSIDE, in a shady area of the run, or backyard if your chickens are not confined, can drop their air temp in that area by as much as 20 degrees.

Using a sprayer nozzle, you can also wet the ground in shady areas of the run or wherever they free range…not enough to make a muddy mess, just enough to dampen it and “settle the dust”…the chickens will enjoy standing & sitting on the cooler ground. If it is bare dirt, they will probably scratch themselves a new bathing pit, too. (Our little bantam Cochins and Silkies love taking a damp dirt bath.)

Chickens that have no access to shade outside tend to stay inside, where the air circulation is not as good as it is likely to be outside. So if there is no natural shade in the run, it is a good idea to create shade with a tarp or something similar placed over the top of the run. Having a shady area to escape the blazing sun is particularly important for dark-colored birds, which don’t reflect sunlight as well as white and light-colored birds, making them more susceptible to heat stroke.

Try some of these tips, if you aren’t already doing them, and help your chickens keep their cool this summer!

One last tip, learned as young FarmGirl growing up with my grandparents on their farm, and one I’ve seen my Granny employ on numerous occasions: In hot weather (temps above 90 degrees), it’s not a bad idea to keep a 5 gallon bucket of cool (NOT COLD!) water in a shaded area close by your chickens at all times. If you notice any of ’em looking ‘kinda peaked’, as Granny put it, (acting droopy, sluggish, lethargic, going pale in the comb & wattles) IMMEDIATELY pick ’em up & dip ’em the cool water up to their neck. This will help to lower their body temperature, and can save their life.

For more on what to do to combat heat-stress & dehydration in your flock, including a Home-made Electrolyte Solution, visit The Chicken Chick. She has a great post on her blog: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-heat-stress-dehydration-and.html

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