Can free range birds ever adjust to a caged existence? Would like to have fertile eggs and thinking of getting a rooster that was a free ranger.
When I have my garden planted, I coop up my hens. When the garden is finished producing, I let them out. They do pace back and forth, but as long as they have plenty of room in their run, they will adjust just fine. I just bothers me more than them to coop them up.
I keep fencing around my veggie gardens. If your garden is too large for you to do that then keep them in a run like Miss Chessy said. This past winter we unrolled a large bale of hay inside the run. Easier on their feet, and gave them something to scratch for, they had a ball in there. Now come spring lots of good greenies are coming up under that hay plus lots of bugs. so days that they are kept in they have fun. Mostly, they would prefer free-ranging though