I grew up on a farm in Illinois. We never worried about some varmint getting our chickens. The chicken coop was soon unused and the chickens were laying in hay in the barn or in the tractor seats. Now I live in Tucson Arizona and I"d like to have 3 laying hens (actually I'd like roosters but can't do that in city limits
) I have a nice big backyard but the fence is easily scaled by chickens. They could probably get on my roof--single story. We didn't have "pet" chickens. Can I train them to not fly out of yard or leave if I let them out of coop???? I cannot leave animals caged day and night! I could definitely cage them at night in a nice 10X10 coop--I figure that's enough for 3 chickens??
I do worry about 2 large independent cats who have 2 cat doors to the house. So they would have access to the chickens. I don't really think they would attack something as large as a chicken but my orange has been known to eat 3 wild birds a week (sorry, sorry
).
We do have hawks in Arizona and bobcats though I"ve never seen one in this neighborhood---and coyotes but again I've not seen them in this neighborhood. Part of my yard has "cat fencing" for when I first moved here and didn't want the cats to get out side the yard. But it has since been reduced to partial net fencing. The whole yard is enclosed by 4 foot concrete block fencing.
Can I make this work without feeding neighborhood wildlife or my cats??
Thanks for advice. (No dogs at least)

I do worry about 2 large independent cats who have 2 cat doors to the house. So they would have access to the chickens. I don't really think they would attack something as large as a chicken but my orange has been known to eat 3 wild birds a week (sorry, sorry

We do have hawks in Arizona and bobcats though I"ve never seen one in this neighborhood---and coyotes but again I've not seen them in this neighborhood. Part of my yard has "cat fencing" for when I first moved here and didn't want the cats to get out side the yard. But it has since been reduced to partial net fencing. The whole yard is enclosed by 4 foot concrete block fencing.
Can I make this work without feeding neighborhood wildlife or my cats??
Thanks for advice. (No dogs at least)