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.
Hi Friends! I’m so happy about what you guys are doing with your chickens! I bought your eggs in plano at lavon farm and I’m so pleased with the product! At the risk of sounding like a know it all, I want to talk about the verbage you use when talking about your eggs. As I have come to understand it you have “pastured” eggs, not free range. Eggs that are considered “free range” do not have the requirement of chickens being outside. They are “free range” as long as they are not in cages. You guys are doing waaayyy better than that by letting your chickens scratch and eat bugs. Your chickens and their eggs are referred to as “pastured”. I just wanted to bring this up because I don’t want y’all to lose business because your eggs are being called something their not. I almost didn’t buy them when he told me they were free range, until he explained how they were raised. Just some food for thought. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Rebecca
Thank you for the comments, Rebecca. I have to admit, that I’m in my third year of raising chickens and I wasn’t aware of the phrase “pasture raised”. I’ll have to look that up and change my label! I hope you enjoy the eggs – the girls are happy to have such great customers!