The Free-range Chicken Lifestyle

Photo of Kassandra Smith

Kassandra Smith

Senior Editor • Backyard Chicken Coops

Last Updated: 27 March 2017

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Hello chicken keepers!

I love being able to keep free-range chickens. It gives me great joy to know my hens are happy and healthy and get to exercise their mind exploring the backyard and foraging for grubs. If you’re anything like me you’ll love a good potter about in the garden. And so do my chookies! The girls tend to follow me around - no matter my task - and make light work of any weeds I toss them. They are expert pest killers and a wonderfully entertaining source of fertiliser!

Here’s a video of my silkie chooks - Fluffy Butt and Audrey Henburn - free-ranging in the leaves outside their chicken run area.

Thinking about letting your girls go wild? Here are some handy tips if you have been keeping your chooks in a run and want to transition to a free-range chicken lifestyle!
  1. Electric Poultry Fencing around their area will help protect your chickens from predators, as well as limiting the possibility of them getting woefully lost.
  2. Clipping their wings is another great way to ensure that your chickens don’t foolishly wander into situations they can’t come back from.
  3. Having a sturdy and safe coop for your chickens to spend the night in, like The Penthouse, is the perfect way to ensure that your chickens are safe at the end of each day.
  4. Also, having a coop with nesting boxes is another fabulous way to make sure that you are able to find and collect those delicious eggs that your chickens generously want to give to you.
  5. Vaccinate your chooks as they are more likely to come in contact with nasty diseases when they are scuttling and pecking their way across a vast and wild property.

With these things in mind you too can have happy healthy hens hangin’ out in your backyard!  

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Feathers Forever,

Kassandra x