Free roaming chickens???

[jessupfamily]

We are on 1 acre and live very close to a country road. We have a horse field on one side and back and an alfalfa field on the other side. They love scratching in the horse droppings!! They do venture to the road, but usually run away really fast at the sound or site of a car. We have lost 1 chicken to a school bus. Our hens have even started new flocks for our neighbor across the street (in her horse barn). She lovingly calls them her grand chickens and now she even has a next generation (her great-grand chickens). As for cats, I have seen some large cats get themselves into to bad situations with hens that were only 6-7 months old. Grown chickens can usually hold their own with a cat.
Amy J.

 

[ktownjeep]

I live on 2 acres and they stay within it. As for the cats they will stalk the chickens but when they get close the catsend up running away

 

[SweetLilRachy00]

Hmmm....you guys don't know my cat very well!!!

I can picture him killing one and dragging it to the front porch for me to discover at 6am.

He catches squirrels and chipmunks. He's not afraid of anything...My neice has a scar on her face from him

He's a rough-n-tough cat. We of course, live WAY TOO close to a very very busy interseting. We live on the corner of one, I guess I should say. Maybe next year we'll fence in the whole yard...DH is thinking about it since we've had such a deer problem this year.

I suppose when that happens then they'll been dinner, but then we'll breed 'em and have some newbies to raise and then start all over again.

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
We've got about a 3/4 acre yard in a pretty small town in eastern CT. Our neighbors' yards are similar sizes or larger. There are trees between the houses. Our backyard is fenced in and is probably two thirds of the yard. It is not completely chicken proof but it is dog proof and keeps the neighbors dogs out. The neighborhood cats come and go and watch the chickens. We've only ever had grown hens and have never had a problem. Some of the cats are feral and even they don't cause problems. We've got three dogs and they ignore the chickens and vice versa. Most of my neighbors don't even know the chickens are there. We've only got three right now but we've had as many as 7.
We do live on a relatively quiet dead end street and since the back is fenced the hens rarely get anywhere near the street. I 've seen other people's chickens scratching along side tbusy roads but I've never seen a chicken that had been hit and killed lying there. Don't know if that really means anything or not.