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CrazyDaizy

Who leaves their pets to free range while they are at work?

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I am always undecided on this. I work 5 hours, 3 times a week. I always put my 2 chickens and rabbit away so I know they are safe while I am gone. If I pop to town/elsewhere for a couple of hours, I might leave them out to free range in the garden. With our house being relative new, and surrounded completely by other gardens and houses, we have not had Mr Fox find us yet. But he has been spotted in the vicinity. I think he's only got to smell chicken/rabbit and there'll be no stopping him :shock: We do have cats in the garden, but our pets (and the cats) tend to take no notice of each other.

 

Even if my two teens are home and I go to work, I tend to put my chooks and rabbit away. With the longer days coming up, I can let them out again when I get home (usually around 4-5pm)

 

Often we are in the house anyway, and not keeping a constant eye on the garden.

 

Who leaves their pets to free range while they are at work?

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Never... Sorry.

They may well be ok, but I dont think I could forgive myself if anything did happen to them.

Mind you mine do have a large WIR, and hardly ever come out now, used to let them in the first year but my garden was totally destroyed so now they have a large WIR and there own bit of garden which is also enclosed.

Works well for me.

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I used to before i got my new girls (who are still a bit too flighty to leave on their own), but all of my neighbours absolutely adore the girls and keep an eye out for them, I also leave my dog in the garden with them and use an ultra sonic fox deterrant. I'm also quite urban and didn't have any problems but I know of people on here who have and now wouldn't dare leave their girls out alone.

 

I'm still in 2 minds of leaving the new girls out on their own, but I think we'll be trying it again in the summer time.

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I know a lot of people are against leaving them out and some folks have had their girls attacked when they have been in the garden :shock: However I think it depends on the area you are in and also how you would feel if something happened to your girls. I let mine out all day, every day and make sure they are safely shut away at night. They have a fantastic life roaming about and scratching. My older 2 will be 2 years old soon and thankfully they have enjoyed their lives to date. My 2 new Silkies at first were unsure about roaming as they had obviously no idea what the 'outside' was. Now they too rush out in the morning to enjoy the garden (which is surrounded by a high wall). I would of course be devastated if anything happened to them and may totally change my mind if they were attacked but seeing their enjoyment of life outside the run (in a fenced off area) has made me take this decision (I do not have a WIR for the girls just a run). My rabbits on the other hand have a WIR and only get out supervised.

I know there are foxes about and last year when we had snow I saw the footprints round my fencing however we have woods and golf courses nearby and there are lots of rabbits about there so I hope the foxes stick to those areas during the day.

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Mine are out all day everyday with no one in the house. I can understand why other people do not let them free range unsupervised, but my belief is that it is better for the hens to have two years free ranging life than five years shut in the run, along with other pros and cons. As it goes I have had my hens free ranging for over three years and no foxes have visited in the day time (touch wood). :pray: But foxes have been seen at night time around the area.

 

I know quite a few people in the area keep hens that free range. As other people have said, it depends on your area and your 'fox risk'. Are there any other hen keepers around who you could get a better judge on your area from?

 

The fact they've been fine when you've been out to the shops is a good sign. But I guess it depends how you'd feel if anything did happen.

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I can understand why other people do not let them free range unsupervised, but my belief is that it is better for the hens to have two years free ranging life than five years shut in the run,

 

But what if it's two months - or two weeks? If there is a fox around, then he will know you have hens. The fact that nothing has happened yet just means you've been lucky, he hasn't had the opportunity so far. When there's a vixen with young to feed, which will be soon, you may not be so lucky.

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Mine are also out all day every day. They have trashed my garden :( albeit with my permission, but from this weekend they will be in a fenced off area of the garden with their lovely (cube purple). They will be very :twisted: im sure

Re foxes : I'm sure that living in a semi rural area backing onto fields as we do, there has to be a fox or two about but I have lived here for more than 25 yrs and have never set eyes on one yet. So I guess leaving my hens to f/r is a calculated risk and perhaps I've been been lucky to date. Fingers crossed it continues. Alli x

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I can understand why other people do not let them free range unsupervised, but my belief is that it is better for the hens to have two years free ranging life than five years shut in the run,

 

But what if it's two months - or two weeks? If there is a fox around, then he will know you have hens. The fact that nothing has happened yet just means you've been lucky, he hasn't had the opportunity so far. When there's a vixen with young to feed, which will be soon, you may not be so lucky.

 

That's why in the rest of my post I said it depends on your fox risk and area. I have lost 2 hens to a fox before a night, but that was my fault for not shutting them away properly. I personally feel you've taken my comment out of context.

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I know a lot of people are against leaving them out and some folks have had their girls attacked when they have been in the garden :shock: ....

Happened to me 3 weeks ago (tomorrow!) a few feet away from where I was standing. Last March a fox managed to find a weakness in a wooden coop and run and took all of my girls (apart from the broody on eggs in a (green eglu) ).

 

Not worth the risk as far as I am concerend - hence I invested in a WIR; that way the girls get the best of both worlds, a lovely safe haven when we can't "supervise" them, then a wonderful big garden and a copse area to free range as I walk around with them contemplating the world going by. It's a compromise we both benefit from :)

 

For those who are able to free range without any undue concerns, well, that would be my "preferred" option too, but its just not going to happen after my experiences in the past 11 months.

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My hens free range all day every day in the light hours - and are as happy as Larry. I work from home so I am around much of the time, but if I pop out in the weekend to the shops I still leave them out. I have a 7ft fence all around my 20m garden and my fingers crossed. So does another lady near me who keeps Pekins. We have fields nearby, a spinney and hedgerows, but have a veritable plague of rabbits so I'm hoping that Foxy who is a wild fellow (and very beautiful) will prefer them. :pray: On the other hand, my sister, who lives in central London has poor mangy foxes who are so urbanised that when they cross in front of the french windows they stop and have a good look in even when my dogs are on the other side looking back out :shock:

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I work between 35-55 hours per week (winter/summer) and my parter Sally works 49 Hours per week, and our girls free range all day every day. However this is because we have a very secure garden from anything that burrows, and the local cats are terrified of our girls. At night we simply lock the walk in run door, and in the morning we open it.

 

The only time they get made to stay in the WIR is when it is very windy in case a fence panel comes down, or we're going on holiday, or will be out until late so we know they're safely away for the night. And when we go away we have a family member come round daily to collect eggs, check food and water, and so they get some human interaction.

 

Ultimately it comes down to the fact that our garden is very secure, our perimeters are based on concrete foundations with high fences, and chicken wire around the perimeters as well.

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Mine too are out in the garden behind Omlet fencing, they are so happy rummaging under bushes and murdering my lawn, that I feel they have a quality of life that is better than living in just their cube train. I have toyed with the idea of a big WIR, because they would be safer, albeit less happier and it is highly likely that if I move they will be confined. I would also quite like a garden. I have had hens here off and on for 18 yrs fox free, but do accept that it is a risk.

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Mine are out all day, everyday, whether i'm home or not.

As has been mentioned above, i think it is down to the individual to decide depending on their own circumstances. I don't think there is a definitive right or wrong.

We also back onto open fields, so, i think there is plenty of food around (ie rabbits etc) to keep any foxes happy. Also our neighbours gardens sort of wrap around ours, so any fox would have two or three gardens to negotiate before getting to ours.

I know the possibility of an attack is there, but having weighed up the risks, i believe my girls are as safe as they can be while been out very happily foraging and ransacking my garden.

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Mine have a large WIR & get out to free range every other day , but only if I'm about (or OH). I have seen foxes about & have lost girls to them in the past- even though I have a fox deterrent ! It's different for every one but I'd feel awful if something happened to them & feel that the most important part of "Quality of life" is actually being alive. You have to weigh up the pros & cons for yourself & just be comfortable with your decision .

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The answer, I think, is: how would you feel if one day you came home from work to find nothing but feathers and headless corpses all over the garden? Might happen tomorrow or next week or next year but it will happen. How would you arrange things if one or more hens was badly injured by a fox and needed nursing? Are you ready to pay vets' fees for a hen that cost perhaps £20?

 

Next door - a couple with a little daughter - had three hens free-ranging, and they got away with it for about a year. Then there were two fox attacks in which all the hens were injured - it was awful watching these once confident and beautiful birds living with their injuries: two couldn't use one leg properly, and a third dragged her wing. Then in a third attack they were all killed. The person who was the most upset was the little girl. They have given up hen-keeping.

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It's really difficult. Mine are out if we're around. If I pop out for a few hrs, then they stay outside. In 4 yrs, not seen any foxiness. We're surrounded by farmland (lots of sheep) so fox numbers are controlled locally. Personally, whilst I do see that there is a risk of them being attacked, but I don't think the risk is that high where we are.

They enjoy being out, and whilst they have a big run the grass in it disappeared long ago. I would rather they had a (potentially) shorter but (definitely) happier life. It depends completely on where you are as to how great the risk is; obviously if the shorter life was a few months then it wouldn't be fair!

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