Reddit reviews Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard

This book is what I asked for my birthday. Or a chicken shaped thing that can be hung on the coop itself and or a gift card to where they get feed and such.

Sorry to hear you can't make it. At least you can check out some videos online and I'll try to take some pictures if it's not too crazy. And thanks for your compliments on the coop! I'm pretty happy with it.

We used to rent a house around 50th and Ave. G and we saw some loose chickens and a neighbor walking down the street with a fat hen tucked under his arm once. I think it was making a break for it. I bet there are a good number of chicken owners in that area.

We have some giant neighborhood cats in the neighborhood, and I know that they camp out in front of my house and catch birds from time to time. They seem to be disinterested or intimidated in our back yard. The last time a cat jumped the fence to move from yard to yard while the hens were out foraging, they all made an incredible squawking noise and flew across the yard. I think that cats probably go off in search of easier prey.

The real threat with letting chickens free range in the day is hawks. Just last week I had one swoop down and camp out in a tree while all the hens hid under the platform in the coop. I think that this is less of a problem for yards with lots of evergreen cover to hide under, but a determined hawk will even land on the ground and walk in a coop to catch a chicken.

A good guard dog or a rooster is probably your best bet if you want to let chickens free range. If you think you might give it a try one day, you might want to check out Free-Range Chicken Gardens first. Cheers.

This is a good book on the subject