I have been wondering the same thing. For years I had chickens that ran around the property freely never being inclosed in a pen/cage. One chicken lasted for 15 years and some of the others lasted to about 10 or so years old.
Yea I know that is just plain luck. In 2004 something finaly got my beloved pet chickens. A coon, coyote, hawk or whatever I dunno.
I liked the fact that the chickens could walk about finding food because in the warm months we did not have the buy fed. But when they are free like that they poop on the cars, side walks, swing sets and everything else their butt is aimed at. It gets messy and yucky. So with my next batch of chickens my husband is making me a big fencend in area, it will be about the size of a school class room.
-So what I want to know is is a cover really really important? Because to cover a fenced in area that size would cost a fortune. But I dont want a small fenced in area because I cant stand for them to be caged up like that. I want for them to have space.
I more worried about the red tailed hawk that has been living in my woods the past year. Also I want to make sure the fencing is small enough that the baby chics cant get out and get eaten by my cats.
-What if I partially cover the top so that the chickens can take cover under it, would that help?
-Or does the hawk do a sneak attack from the air so that the chicken has no time to hide?
-How in the world did they manage to keep chickens back in the old days before they had fencing?
I want to have chickens again so bad, I have the space for them and could get some right now but I dont want the poop mess they make and finding their eggs when they are free like that is not easy.