Deciding to free-range your chickens or not is a personal decision that will be based off of many different factors. However, I would like to discuss the reasons why I chose to free-range my laying flock. These 8 reasons why chickens should free-range are positive aspects of free-ranging chickens. While there are cons that should be considered, such as predator risk, disease, and the quality of the forage content, I would like to focus on the eight positives of free-ranging chickens. These eight factors make free-range worth it for me and my flock!
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#1. Makes them healthier.
While there could be some debate about this, I feel that ultimately, free-ranged chickens are healthier. There are many factors that play into the health of a chicken, and both free-range and confined chickens can be healthy. However, there are certain aspects of free-ranging that promotes an overall increase in vitality and hardiness in a backyard flock.
Some of the reasons I discuss later, such as exercise, a natural diet, increased nutrition, and happiness, all contribute to why free-range chickens are healthy. However, one factor that I want to focus on in this section is that free-range chickens can build up a wider range of immunity.
When chickens free-range, they expose themselves to varies diseases, protozoa, bacteria, and parasites. Now, this can be detrimental if the chicken does not already have a healthy diet and is in fine health. A healthy chicken who is consuming a balanced diet will be able to slowly build up immunity to all of the diseases and parasites it encounters while free-ranging.
This gradual build up of immunity enables the chicken to fight off diseases and keep parasite loads to a minimum.
Confined chickens will build up immunity to the diseases present in their confined environment. However, the amount of immunity they can build up is limited to what is present in their environment. Also, the diseases present in confined environments are more likely to proliferate faster than a chicken can build immunity, which in the end would cause an outbreak of disease.
#2. Provides stimulation.
Free-ranging your flock offers an excellent source of daily stimulation! Chickens are smart creatures, and while they can do a pretty good job of self-entertaining themselves, sometimes that self entertainment can turn into bad behaviors. Free-ranging helps prevent bad boredom behaviors such as fighting, pecking, bullying, and cannibalism.
Whether it be spring, summer, fall, or winter, any bit of free-ranging that my flock can get is helpful in preventing cabin fever. It’s a great boredom buster that stimulates their brain and keeps my flock from focusing on other bad behaviors.
If you have a rooster in your flock, free-ranging the flock is a great way to give the hens a break from his sometimes over-abundant attention. Hens who are bullies also tend to chill out when they have more space to roam and other things to focus on, such as looking for food.
#3. Gives them exercise.
Yes! Chickens need exercise too and free-ranging is a great source of exercise for chickens! Obesity is an ever present danger for laying hens, who spend most of their day searching for food. The more space they have to search means the more exercise they get while searching.
Free-ranging will keep your flock in shape! Lots of scratching, territory to cover, favorite free-range spots to visit, and searching for forage will keep your hens healthy and at a decent weight so they can stay productive. I often notice that when my flock free-ranges for a good portion of the day, they often take breaks and all congregate beneath a tree or around the coop for a mid-afternoon break from free-ranging. Free-ranging is a lot of work and can provide the perfect balance of food consumption and exercise for your flock!
#4. Provides a natural diet.
Free-range chickens are able to forage for their own natural diet. A lot of times, the amount of foraged food a flock can provide for itself is dependent on what breeds are present in the flock. Lighter chicken breeds are often more apt to forage for a majority of their diet if given the chance. Heavier breeds are less motivated to forage for their own food, but will still supplement their diet with whatever forage they can rustle up while free-ranging.
Providing your flock with the chance to forage for a natural diet puts their nutritional needs within their control. Of course, consider what forage is available for them to glean from, such as leafy wooded areas, grassy pasture areas, or wet swampy areas. Chickens can do a pretty good job at foraging for foods to meet their individual nutritional needs. Bugs and grubs can provide protein, wild seeds and nuts provide carbs and fat, and plants and grasses can provide vitamins and minerals.
Free-ranging gives your flock the chance to eat free-choice foods and even consume a wider range of nutrients than what could be present in their regular formulated rations.
#5. Adds nutrition.
Not only does a free-range diet mean more nutrition for your chickens, but that also translates over to more nutritious poultry products for you! The richer a chicken’s diet is, the healthier it’s meat and eggs will be. The more nutrients a chicken consumes means more nutrients can be put into the meat and eggs that it produces.
You have probably heard of studies that have been done relating to what a hen consumes and how nutritious her eggs are. Free-range chickens are known for having brighter, bigger yolks and their eggs are higher in beneficial nutrients like omega-3’s and lower in less desirable nutrients like cholesterol and fat.
You are what you eat is definitely true for free-range chickens!
#6. Is a natural behavior.
Foraging for food is an instinctual behavior for any kind of bird, chickens included. Even chickens who are confined will look for ways to forage for food. Free-ranging chickens is a great way to let their inner instincts shine through!
There’s nothing I like better than watching an animal in it’s natural environment doing what it instinctually was made to do. Whether it be a flock of wild ducks, or my own backyard flock, watching an animal live in a natural, unconfined way is always rewarding for me! I think it appeals to my desire to be more self-sufficient and live with the land, not off of it.
Whenever I let my flock out to free-range, I love seeing them come pouring out the enclosure door and then make a beeline for their favorite free-range spots. Seeing them so happy and ‘wild’ makes all the risks of free-ranging worth it for me!
#7. Smart way to save money.
Free-ranging your chickens is a smart way to save money. Awhile back I wrote a post on Why Free Chicken Feed is Joke. A chickens dietary needs are very complex and just one source of food, even if it is varied, will not provide them with the nutrition they need.
However, free-ranging allows your chickens to control their own diet and search for the nutrients they need from natural, healthy sources. I know that the more I free-range my chickens, the less feed they consume. During the winter, I know that one feed bag will last barely a week. During the summer though, a single feed bag can last a week and a half and even up to two weeks, depending on how much free-ranging my flock got in.
While normally a decrease in feed consumption would worry me, I know that my flock is gleaning additional nutrients from the forage they are consuming. What’s even better is that I know those replacement nutrients are just as beneficial if not even more healthy than the nutrients my flock would receive from their formulated rations!
Free-ranging is a win-win for my flock, my wallet, and my flock’s health!
#8. Keeps things cleaner.
One last benefit of free-range chickens that I thoroughly enjoy is the cleaner living space that occurs when my flock free-ranges. The less time my flock spends in their coop and enclosure, means less droppings accumulate and less feed is wasted. Not only is lack of presence helpful for keeping the coop clean, but a free-range diet is also beneficial for cleanliness.
The more usable nutrients a chicken consumes, the less waste it will expel. I have found that when my flock free-ranges, there is considerable less droppings on the droppings board each morning. Not only is less poop nice for cleaning up in both the coop and the enclosure, but it also helps the coop litter last longer. The less moist poop the litter has to absorb, the longer it’s usable life will last.
Free-ranging your chickens means less droppings, less moisture, and a healthier, cleaner environment that is easy for you to manage!
It’s Worth It!
While I still believe the decision to free-range should be left up to you, I just wanted to give you some food for thought when you are weighing the pros and cons of free-ranging. For me, the eight reasons listed above are well worth the risks I take when I free-range my chickens. That being said, I still take pre-cautions when free-ranging my flock. However, over the years I have become more lenient and more of a risk-taker when it comes to free-ranging my flock because I am willing to accept the consequences that may occur. It’s mother nature’s way, and I’m willing to accept that.
Free-ranging your flock on the homestead is a great way to build a self-sufficient flock that is healthy, happy, and productive! As a modern pioneer, I want to raise my chickens as naturally as possible and strive towards building a self-sufficient, eco-friendly lifestyle. If that describes you as well, I encourage you to sign up for our newsletter, get our Modern Pioneer Starter Package, and collaborate with us on our modern pioneer journey!
by Alexa
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