OKVet
In the Brooder
I too love to let my flocks free range. One of the cons I would add is worry. I worry about them when they are free ranging. I have not had any trouble for two years, then a couple of weeks ago I had a hawk get one of my prize BLRW's girls. I have mixed feelings about it.Late to this thread, but we have urban chickens and let them free range most days. My office is also in the backyard so it's somewhat supervised.
Pros
- They clearly like it.
- I sense that they eat a lot of bugs.
- It keeps the dogs entertained.
- It forces me to keep the yard cleaned up.
- Do they eat weeds? I'm weeding less.
Cons
- They make a mess. We have areas of mulch and they love to dig it out. They dig it out, I put it back.
- Landmines. I've tracked chicken poop in the house a few times.
- Need to keep an eye on them. One of my hens likes to climb and I think she'll eventually jump over the wall into the neighbors yard.
- They eat everything, including my veggies. That's not your salad girls... that's mine.
That's about it. I like them in the yard, it's fun for us. We're getting ready to greatly expand our little yard with raised garden beds. So I suppose one negative there is that we'll need to chicken-proof it.