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LunaKiw1

completely free 'free ranging'

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I live in a very small village within The New Forest national park where cattle, ponies and donkeys wander can around the place completely freely. There's a little green on the edge of the village and four or five chickens can always be seen happily free-ranging there, often surrounded by the other animals. They must belong to one of the houses that border the green and never stray too far from the same area and clearly return home to roost at night. What amazes me is that they don't seem to get taken by foxes, which must live in the woodland and for whom they'd make easy pickings. I also find it hard to understand how someone can be so relaxed about letting their chooks roam outside their property so freely! There are 'Commoners Rights' in the Forest that allow people to graze their ponies, cattle, donkeys and pigs out in the forest but not sure anything applies to chickens!

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I guess they are doing what they have been doing for hundress of years! Nature is looking after them and if they have a loss along the way then I assume it's a trade off for the fantastic life they seem to be having.

I stayed in a jungle type resort in Mexico and we saw lost of free ranging hens, I'm sure there were natural predators but they seemed to be having a lovely time

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Sounds like a lovely place to live.

 

Our Legbars are completely free range, we are nowhere near a village green but they will quite happily jump over the gate and into the field accross the road and happily wander round our field with the pigs and next doors field with the horses. They all make their way back to their run/hut at night and we don't bother shutting them in so in the morning they get up and out when they want.

 

We have woodland across the river at the bottom of the field and there are foxes about but touch wood haven't had any problems.

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There's a property on the edge of Epping Forest which has hens, geese and goats free-ranging within sight of the road. It always makes me smile (I may even have been known to drive that way just to see it! :oops: ) and I'm envious - I wouldn't dare to leave my hens out in the back garden, where I have had a couple of narrow escapes in broad daylight.

 

Maybe the other animals scare off foxes, and rural foxes are less bold than urban ones.

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We used to live in suburbia and saw more foxes there and even had one take one of our chooks in broad daylight. Since we moved to the countryside people keeping warning us of foxes but so far we have seen no signs, although obviously they are around. Perhaps because there is also more food around they are less interested I domestic chickens. I love seeing these free-ranging chooks though when we drive past and always look out for them.

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I try and let mine free range as often as possible my only concern is that they head for my lovely neighbours garden and starch up her plants. :roll: it's not so bad in the winter. :D I've never seen a fox but last winter an otter took one. :( as we have a river at the bottom of the garden. When we lived in London we had foxes day and night and could even leave them to go to the loo. :roll:

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