Are my chickens free range? I know they’re ‘cage-free’. They aren’t confined to the coop. In fact, they only go in to lay eggs.
But, they’re penned. Would you say that the thousands of chicken generations before them that grew up in pens were ‘free range’? How big of an area must they roam to be free range?
What do you think? Classify my chicks for me!
Ivory
Happy chickens !!!
I would definitely classify them as “free range”. Mine used to be until they were discovered by the free range neighborhood cats and the hawks. Now, for their safety, we had to build a large, wire covered penned in area. They’re really cute, too. Watching them scratch around in the dirt and grass is so soothing. When I’m out working in my garden, I’ll occasionally let them out to eat bugs, but still have to watch the hawks. They’re not afraid of humans and will swoop down right next to me and grab one of my birds.
Thanks for sharing.
Debbie…(O:
>
Well, I call mine “cage-free” because they have to stay in their tractor penned in area, and even though we move it to new grass every day, it’s still much smaller than a large yard would be. I’d say yours are free range because even though they’re fenced to stay in the yard, it looks like a very big area. And I don’t know about actual certification rules, but I’d say anyone who came to see them would not argue if you’d told them you have a free range flock.
I say free range. Our chickens are kept like yours and everyone tells us that the eggs taste so “different” – so it has to be the fact that they can get fresh air, sunshine and all that grass and those bugs.
Tammy
I would call them free range. They are allowed to range free over your garden, like the chickens we have at my mums. This is our first time keeping chickens and we love them, they are so adorable. With them ranging free over your garden, how do you walk about in your garden without stepping in their poop? I like having them roaming around but the lawn is no longer an area we use. I’ve taken to wearing gum boots but it is a hassle changing in and out of them when I’m constantly in and out of the yard.
What do you do?
There’s also what they call “pastured” where they live in a pen but get out and eat grass & bugs, too. Free range, cage-free, pastured – it all just equals “happy” to me! My hens have a house with a large run, and we let them out whenever we’re around to watch them. Their favorite thing right now is to sneak over and eat the cats’ food!
I would have to say that it has at least just as much to do with how many chickens are in a space as how big the space is. There are three chickens in this large space–so I’d say they have ‘free range’!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_range
I would call them free-range because they have a large yard and if they wanted to, they could go over the fence. Even when given the chance, most chickens don’t wander too far from home. We used to leave the gate to the 60’x60′ barnyard open to give the flock access to half an acre of overgrown pasture/orchard and fully half of the flock never even wandered out the door. We even used to scatter scratch grain (chicken candy!) outside the gate to try to entice them, and they wouldn’t go farther than they were comfortable.
I would call them any of the following : yummy home grown chicks, a healthy dinner for a family, and mighty mighty taste.
I can not get over the diffrence in “home grown” rather than the nasty store bought chickens and eggs.
Carry on 🙂
Sneak up on one of their secret meetings and listen very closely.
If you hear them singing “Home, Home On The Range”, then you have your answer.
Everyone (how is a crazy chicken person) knows, if you hear ’em singing, their happy!
Ha! Seriously, like the people who’ve commented already, free ranging the way your chickens do is probably the safest and happiest way for chickens:
1. they’re wandering around doin’ what chickens do
2. they feel safe in a fenced yard
& 3. their nesting needs are all within a short reach for them
I call them pasture raised. Looks like they are out on pasture to me. No rules on how large the pasture has to be. In the chicken industry, birds can be labeled as cage free and free range if they are on the ground in those big icky chicken houses. Pasture raised would be more correct for birds running out in the grass.
Add my vote into the free range classification.
With chickens, I personally do not see it mattering as much since they just don’t tend to wander far. Add in that they’re highly susceptible to predators and a caged area is just as good, especially if it’s a fairly large caged area.
Free-range. They can go where they want, they aren’t confined to just one little area. (Your yard looks plenty big to me.)
free range, definitely!!!!
BTW, where are the goats? You took pictures of the goats with the chickens in the background, now it should have been the other way around. One thing you forgot to say about your landscaping goats is that….thay also fertilize the area!!!!!!
😎
free range, cage-free, pastured–just so long as they don’t become open source. 🙂
I like pastured. Ours have access to about an acre and a half, but they stay pretty close to home, although the goats like to get them all “riled” up and chase them around. Good, clean entertainment. It looks like you have some happy chickens, and that’s all that matters!
I’d just call ’em lucky to be with you. Howzzat?
i’d call them LUCKY CHICKIES.
they are VERY fortunate to have such a wonderful space to roam and scratch.
Free range Indeed. At least yours go in the hen house to lay eggs, I had to go on egg hunts to find mine as they used to lay them all around the yard. In fact the only way i knew when one was being laid was when I seemed to be missing hens ( they would disappear to go nest.)
How ’bout “Freebird”? Oh, wait Lynrd Skynrd has the copyright on that.
Oh, here ya go ~ “Free Yard Chickens”, unless of course, you have a “Home, Home on the Range” in stead of in your yard??! (Definitely Free Range-Style)
Thanks for the site and the laughs!
I wish I could have my chickens completely free range. We have had Bald Eagle and hawk attacks. Thank goodness the rooster was able to fight the Bald Eagle off. The hawk took the hen over our house. Thank goodness it dropped her. No joke.
I’d definitely call yours Yard Birds or Free-Range. If they are NOT kept cooped up all the time and eating only commercial feeds, then I think they pretty much get called Free-Range.
GOOD NEWS for me… I get to keep MY chickens. It was dicey here for a while. Our City Council just passed a vote to BAN Lifestock Animals inside the city limits. They DID , thankfully , exempt FOWL. They defined FOWL as chickens, ducks, geese, hawks, pet birds, and birds raised for commercial sale. WHEW !!! I can only “keep 6 birds per acre…” so it is also Good News for me that I only have 5 chickens on my acre yard. Yaaay ! GO Chickens ! Go backyard Hens!! Sqwaak !!
I love this website. It gives me a whole new way of looking at things, and it encourages me to think more adventurously. Thank you.
I give my 5 gals 13,000 sq ft to roam; they don’t use half of that. I would say free range. Here is my definition. If the ground cover cant keep up with them (they take it down to bare spots) then they aren’t free range. If there is more ground than they could use and it replenishes itself, they are free-range.
Happy Birds is what I would classify them as, people kill me with as the names and categories they like to place on animals in general. Most of us don’t have the acreage of generations past to allow their birds out. Just seeing them happy and healthy makes me happy. I can guarantee you have much better tasting eggs from those girls than from any that are in steel cages hung over an open pit stuffed 4-5 deep in an area that is too small for one bird.
Thanks for the pictures. I am not allowed to have any poultry where I presently live, but the pictures help me dream of the day I may return to the country and have my animals. Chicken tv is the best channel on in my opinion.
I agree with Ranch101. Our set-up is pretty similar too. Some of the chickens can easily fly over the fence, and sometimes they do.
A recent article I read talked about chickens being “free to express their chicken-ness.” I think that is the best designation yet–something beyond cage-free/free-range/etc. Looks like yours have a pleasant and peaceful environment in which they can behave as comes naturally, so I’d say they qualify. We live in the country so we have a very large fenced in area for our (give or take) 40 birds. Since I had always seen chickens close together in pretty much bare dirt “chicken yards” I somehow thought that was their natural preference. Have I ever been surprised! Most of them love spending the day under and around a patch of wild blackberry bushes and a cherry tree. This evening when I was taking down my laundry I heard rustling and clucking above my head–there were 4 or 5 way up in the tree, flying from branch to branch. They were youngsters, just hatched in May–I hope they settle down before they start laying–yikes!
Better than free range; they are probably way safer from predators (including the 2-legged kind) that chooks that roam in the wild.
Say, ya reckon I could cover the top of my fenced in coop /pen with some of that bird netting ? I have several packages of that , and it is not in use right now. I bought it on the clearence isle at wallyworld. What do you think?
I would definately sat FREE RANGE!!!
Hi Ivory,
Say, your blog isn’t updated on my blog ? The last one I have is the garlic
harvest…anyway….what kind of chicks are these? They are so pretty….May I copy the picture for my desktop? I would like to have a chicken or two someday…and these are very pretty…
Faith
I’d simply classify them as “Happy Chickens.” If they wanted to range more freely, they’d flap their little wings with all their might, and get over the fences. They are fully capable of that, if they feel stressed.
–mf
I love the word chooks.
I LOVE that! Free to express their chicken-ness!!!!
I LOVE chicken TV!!!
You’re welcome!!! Glad to have you here!
WOW, tough chickens…. I’m not sure I could even fight off an eagle.
Cool
Interestingly, I just picked up Prevention magazine yesterday and they have a “label decoder” article on free range chickens. USDA allows chickent to be labeled as such so long as they have outdoor access (not necessarily grass). This does not mean that the chickens have not had nasty procedures done to them either. However, there are labels such as Pasture-raised or Certified Humane Raised and Handled stamps that indicate the birds have sufficient shelter and engage in their natural behaviour, including foraging for food such as grass and grubs. So I think, your little chicks are closer to the pasture-raised/humaine raised and handled labels…but definitely qualify as free-range. The article is on page 40 of the Sept 09 Prevention Magazine if anybody is interested, but it’s just a little blurb…that about the extent of what they say.
This is something I often wonder…glad I’m not the only one. Our yards look so similar! I love reading about your laid back urban tree-huggin’ lifestyle. SO similar to ours.
I have an Egg-laying question…. once they start laying do they lay every day?? I thought they laid every 28 hours??
I have the 5 hens and so far have had two eggs in just the past 5 days. These are the FIRST eggs the gals have laid. It may be just one hen, Madame Rose, who is laying for now. The others don’t seem to have that “squatting-down egg-laying pose” going on yet. Is it normal for a new hen to lay her first egg, then skip a couple of days? I don’t understand. I am , however, THRILLED that I’ve finally gotten that FIRST EGG !! A nice, chubby brown one from one of my Rhode Island Reds, Madame Rose.
Hey, I love your chicken ark. Do you have plans available for making one of those ? I need to make one to give my hens a trip around the yard for fresh grass and bugs. LOL They’ve been , uhm, cooped up .. har har… for a year. They have a coop and a run, but a tractor or ark would be great to make.
Your flock resembles my flock.
Living arrangements-penthouse condo, includes full garden access and daily interactions and attention from the humans.
Diet-only the most local and freshest food
Classification-pampered
Just found your blog, love it! We added a flock of 3 hens in April
After a summer full of pampering our ladies they have begun to reward us this week with beautiful eggs.
definitely free range. You have to have a fence to keep animals from getting to them. They are happy and healthier this way!
Kim
they are free range to me. anything allowed to wander and feed on what they would without inerference is free range.