Urban Free Range?

[emandmikey]

Jessup family - do you guys keep them in that fenced-in area all of the time, or do they range over the rest of the backyard sometimes? (I see a fence to the right of the picture) I love the look of all that straw... do you add each week, or daily, or how often?

 

[Crash]

What if you don't have much of anything but grass and a few trees. I don't have any plants or bushes in the back yard besides grass.

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

more importantly. Is it your property? Or are you renting it? If you are renting do you have permission from the landlord to get even a few chickens?

That said. We live in the "city" No idea how big the yard is, but it isnt large.
No way will I let them free range right now. Maybe next year. But we are also going to be making their run larger next spring.

 

[Crash]

It is rented, and the landlord has agreed to give chickens a try. I am working on finding a place to buy this year, so hopefully by the time this lease is up, I will have a place on around 10 acres just out of town.

 

[keljonma]

The book I mentioned covers a lot of this stuff...... really

 

[jessupfamily]

Quote:
We didn't intend on letting them into "our" side of the yard (the other side), but the brood of 33 chicks that hatched in June have decided that's "their" side.

So if they are teenage or younger they go back and forth between the two "yards".
As for the straw: generally we add a bale of straw every 1-2 weeks and/or after a good rain. They love when it's straw time! We just throw it out in chunks and they love to "spread" it out and find the random wheat seeds.
Urban chickens are a true education for everyone. The kids (including teenagers) in our neighborhood were shocked and surprised to see where the eggs were coming from and that roosters aren't mean and seeing chicks with their mamas amazed them!

 

[kimh]

I live in a residential neighborhood on the water. As much as I would like to let them free range I don't due to the occassional dog that gets out of the yard -- or my dog for that matter. And they do tear up everything! I have an 8'x 8' dog pen with a weather resistant top on top plus a 4' x 4' x 6' coop and a smaller coop inside (pics on my page). I use a tractor to take them to other areas of my yard to roto till my "work in progress" garden. but given the chance they will eat the flowers down to the stubs with it. It takes my 4 chickens less than a week to take a 2' x 5' thick grassy area down to dirt. Picking them up to take them back in at night is easy though - just get one and the rest will follow.

 

[rufus]

Well, I live in what is called "the inner city." I am smack dab up against a freeway. I have an eight foot block fence around my back yard, and the chickens run free all day back there.

The yard is all bermuda grass, and the chickens crop it down pretty well. They won't eat the seed heads though.

So far we haven't had any problem with the neighbors. I can hear the rooster crow in the morning, but the noise of the freeway pretty much drowns him out for the rest of the neighborhood.

The only predators I have to deal with is an occassional stray dog and homeless people. However, everytime the barrio bird (police helicopter) goes over, the chickens run for cover. I guess they think it is a big hawk or something.

We are probably illegal, but so what? We are criminals, who cares.

Rufus