Hi! I'm from the Birmingham area myself! I haven't gotten started with my chickens just yet, just been researching and getting very excitedWe have a fenced in area that has been used for them previously and we just started clearing out the leaves and digging a trench around it to sink some chicken wire down deep to detract predators hopefully! Then the plan is build the coop and lay chicken wire over the top to keep anything from climbing in at night! We live in a pretty wooded area, the only real clearing is by the pond. Has anyone had luck with free-roaming their chickens during the day in the woods areas? I see at least one hawk flying around and have seen a coyote one morning, but we have two dogs that don't mess with chickens, so I think maybe they would protect them? I would love to let them free roam! But I do have a very heavy chicken tractor already built if I HAVE to use it
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My chickens and ducks free range. They spend a lot of time in the woods. In the summer with all the leaves on I don't see hawks hanging around. But right now with all the leaves off they are around almost daily. The coyote is another story, you could have problems with him anytime. As far as cleaning out the leaves in preparation for your chickens; they love scatching and looking for food in leaves.