The chickens on Della Terra Farm are free-range chickens. This means that they are free to go pretty much wherever they wish during the day. The coop door is opened in the morning allowing them to come and go since they need access to the nesting boxes. Mostly they wander into the garden, pasture, vineyard, across the road . . . you get the idea. Luckily we are on a quiet road with very little traffic and open pastures all around.

The chickens have the opportunity to forage for worms and insects. I provide fresh water and throw out scratch (bird seeds) each morning. Those chickens think scratch is a treat, but that’s nothing compared with their excitement when they catch a juicy grasshopper! We also provide a basic 15% protein layer-feed to supplement their diet. Sometimes hunting is slow and we don’t want our girls to go to bed hungry.

As the sun starts to sink in the west, the girls and the rooster Henry make their way to the coop and their roosting perches for the night. All we have to do each evening is close the coop door. It took some training with our first group of chicks as we had to find them and herd them into the coop. However, now the older birds set the example for the new batch of chicks to follow.

Predators can be a concern for free-range chickens and we did lose two chickens to a stray dog. Luckily my husband was home and saw what was happening. I’ve heard stories of losses to coyotes, hawks and owls. I’m sure it can happen and so we do what we can to minimize the risk. Our chickens have several places to go for cover and we have three pretty fierce barn cats that discourage predators too.

I feel good about our decision to free-range the birds. I believe they are happy to have their freedom and it is the most natural way to raise chickens. It certainly is a big component to providing healthy hormone-free nutritious eggs.