This is why I don't let my chickens loose in my backyard. I don't understand this new movement of chickens roaming and pooping on people's porches and lawn chairs. Maybe it's because more and more urban/suburban people are getting pet chickens for their backyards, and don't have enough room to section them off into their own space? Chickens aren't really pets in the practical, hygienic sense - the kind of pet you can house break or at least train to poop in a specific place and time (like, on a walk, but not on the porch). In that sense they are livestock, and need a livestock type manure management plan. Most of my current chickens are pets, in that I got them mostly for companionship and entertainment, but I'm realistic about what can be expected of them and what the consequences are, so I have them fenced into their own little yard, and they stay there. Walking through chicken
in my own space and clogging my mower with it is completely unacceptable to me and there's no way to avoid that except keeping your chickens within their own enclosure.
P.S. I'm in an urban/suburban area myself and don't have a whole lot of room in my backyard, but I also don't believe that chickens are entitled to "free ranging", nor do I believe that a good size run with plenty of enrichment in it counts as "confinement", or "jail", or however the free range nazis like to put it in order to shame people. My chickens don't walk on grass, and that's fine. Would they prefer grass if they had the chance? Probably. Would I prefer to live in a wood cabin and lounge in a porch swing all day instead of going to work and doing chores? Absolutely. But we don't always get what we want, such is life. My chickens have adequate space and entertainment within their run, their life is good enough. I have a home, a job and a family, my life is good enough too. Don't underestimate what's "enough" as you keep pining over what's "ideal".
