Why we Love and Hate Free Range Chickens
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One of the first things we did after buying our hobby farm was to build a chicken coop and buy baby chick. We started that first spring by keeping them in the bathroom with a heat lamp. Soon after moving them outside, we decided that we wanted to let them free range.
The hardest part was letting them run free and day and return to the chicken coop at night. After they had lived in the coop for about a week, we opened the door and let them roam outside. They took no time in running around outside to look for bugs. However, it took a lot of treats and calling them to teach them where to go. And yes, some evenings we played catch the chicken....
Then, we had the challenge of teaching them to lay eggs in the coop. At first, they laid them wherever they wanted - flowerpots, pasture, barn, yard, bushes, etc. It took a few weeks of training for them to learn to lay their eggs in the nice hay filled nesting boxes. We mostly fixed the problem by not letting them out of the coop too early in the day. Once they had laid their eggs in the nesting boxes for a week or so, they would return to the coop at any time of day to lay.
Now, they run around all day like happy chickens eating bugs and grass as well as the ration of feed we give them in the evening.
After owning chickens for quite a few years, we have a love/hate relationship with them. For some reason they love to poop on the porch and the walkways, basically any flat surface that we walk through. Yuck! We have 7 acres. Why can’t they go fertilize the grass somewhere?
Secondly, they love to scratch through all the flowerbeds. We have lost count of how many seeds and seedlings we have lost because the chickens tore them out looking for bugs. It makes gardening harder. We have to cover or fence every planting spot. So instead of looking at pretty flower beds, we look at chicken wire placed over everything. Don’t even ask about what they do to any tomatoes they can find. Without fencing, they will ruin a garden by scratching up seedlings and seeds.
It’s not all poop and dead flowers. They do lay an abundance of healthy, pastured eggs which we enjoy. And all that free poop makes great fertilizer for the vegetables.
(Updated 2020)