My experience here in our high predator area (both land and aerial) is light colored birds go first. Predator magnets. Because our area has so many predators, ours don't truly free range, but have large pens 50' x 50' with overhead protection that we move every week over the pastures.

We have had several Barred Rocks that were persistent escapees. One lived to 9.5 yrs and died of injuries from another hen. We had one this summer who was out every day and she made it until the week before Freezer Camp in October, when the fox got her.

So my experience is that if I want a flock that will feed me, I have to protect it, and free ranging is out. We invest too much in the birds to have them picked off. This is our food and eggs for a year. Once they are gone, they are gone. No more til next year.

Also, once a predator gets a bird, they will keep returning until there are no more. So it's best to not get them started. When the fox got Stupid Bird in October, it started prowling the perimeter of the pasture pen. We were 1 week from Freezer Camp and it could have been a disaster. But we took immediate measures and beefed up the security and the fox went elsewhere.

We had a juvenile Cooper's hawk get through the overhead protection for the layer pen and kill a bird. It kept hanging around and we could not fix the overhead to keep it out. So we were forced to lock the hens in for 3 days until it moved on.

I've yet to hear of a free ranging situation that ended well for the birds. If you can sustain losses, and don't mind feeding predators, then I guess it's an option.