So I took a chance today and left for work without herding the flock back into the coop while I was gone for the day. Good news, they all were safe and sound when I returned this afternoon. Well, they weren't entirely unsupervised....The contractor rebuilding our deck was at the house. He "noticed" they were roaming freely. I was laughing at all the "evidence" of where the chickens were in the yard. Droppings everywhere! I had to take the hose and spray all the paths down and the patios. And when my husband came home, they were blocking the driveway. He had to honk his horn to get them to move out of his way. We'll be building the run for them this weekend. Hopefully we can get it done.