- Apr 30, 2011
- 80
- 0
- 39
I currently have a nice stout henhouse that is working really well for my 3 hens. They have a pretty big run but they've pecked all the grass clean. The basically get any worms or bugs that manage to get in there now that the grass is gone.
I'd like to let them free range. I'm on a neighborhood lot of 1/3 acre. We have a couple fence spots I need to repair first, but I'm still nervous. The neighbor's cats get in our yard all the time. And sometimes dogs have breeched the fence- usually the next door neighbor with all the cats. The fence is pretty old. We're planning on replacing it eventually, but it's not in the budget quite yet. We have other priorities in our yard first.
My biggest concern is a huge gate that we have for driving vehicles into our back yard. There is most definitely enough room under part of the fence for a chicken to get out if she really wanted to. We need truck access to our back yard for now at least. I'm also concerned about pets getting into our yard and wild animals- there are raccoons, opossums, and predator birds such as eagles and hawks to worry about. I would likely lock them up in the pen at night, which still has access to the runs, but allow them to free range in the yard during the day. We're not technically allowed hens in our neighborhood, but we'd only get in trouble if someone tattled on us, so I really don't want them getting out of our yard (our neighborhood association president has hens, too, so I'm not really worried at all, just don't want them to get loose and bugging our neighbors to where they'd file a complaint about us, therefore getting us fined).
Would you free range in this situation, or would you keep them contained for their safety and to avoid the potential hassle of complaints and fines?
I'd like to let them free range. I'm on a neighborhood lot of 1/3 acre. We have a couple fence spots I need to repair first, but I'm still nervous. The neighbor's cats get in our yard all the time. And sometimes dogs have breeched the fence- usually the next door neighbor with all the cats. The fence is pretty old. We're planning on replacing it eventually, but it's not in the budget quite yet. We have other priorities in our yard first.
My biggest concern is a huge gate that we have for driving vehicles into our back yard. There is most definitely enough room under part of the fence for a chicken to get out if she really wanted to. We need truck access to our back yard for now at least. I'm also concerned about pets getting into our yard and wild animals- there are raccoons, opossums, and predator birds such as eagles and hawks to worry about. I would likely lock them up in the pen at night, which still has access to the runs, but allow them to free range in the yard during the day. We're not technically allowed hens in our neighborhood, but we'd only get in trouble if someone tattled on us, so I really don't want them getting out of our yard (our neighborhood association president has hens, too, so I'm not really worried at all, just don't want them to get loose and bugging our neighbors to where they'd file a complaint about us, therefore getting us fined).
Would you free range in this situation, or would you keep them contained for their safety and to avoid the potential hassle of complaints and fines?