Free Ranging Chickens

Now that the garden in mostly down for the year I have been letting my chickens out to free range in it during the day when I am home.  I don't really like the idea of keeping them in a pen all the time, but it is generally for their protection from predators like foxes, eagles, hawks, and neighboring dogs.  When I am home I can monitor them and they can still get out to explore the yard scratching and pecking to their hearts content.

They spend most of their time hanging around the compost pile and scratching up the beds that I had turned over and covered with leaves.  Needless to say the leaves are everywhere, but the chickens are fertilizing as they go, so I don't really mind.  I do have to keep my garlic bed and my lettuce bed covered to keep the chickens from destroying them.  I discovered that some of my garlic had sprouted and the girls were snacking on the sprouts where they poked through the mulch.

I love hanging out with them as they work their way around the yard.  They are always excited to see me and come running when I walk out the door to see if I have treats.  The roosters I have with these hens do a good job of keeping the hens together and I don't think they would hesitate to attack a predator, should one be bold enough to visit my yard.  Still they are friendly and have never attacked me, so all in all I think I kept the right ones.

Yesterday they tried to follow me into the house and then just hung out around the porch for a while.  What a sight to open my door to a flock of inquisitive chickens!