The Free-Range Chickens

In Livestock by Laura CrossleyLeave a Comment

Day by day, it become more and more obvious that we only have a farm for the animals. Exhibit A: the freaking chickens.

Not only did the chickens get an epic chicken palace as soon as they moved in here, but they are slowly making the entire farm their playground.

Each and every morning – they impatiently wait at the door of the chicken run to be let out. They crow and carry on until, finally, we emerge from the house, wander in their direction, pet the cats and undo the latch on the door. From that moment forward, they spend the day roaming, grazing and laying anywhere they wish.

Most of our ladies have gotten fairly decent at laying in the coop’s boxes. Once in awhile, we’ll see that one of them has gone “missing” for a bit. In that case, we usually find her snuggled into a box doing her thing.

It’s been truly awesome seeing how adventurous they’ve become while free-ranging over the summer. Early on, they never strayed far from the coop. It actually took some real effort to shoo them away from the outside of the run. Slowly but surely though, they explored the garden. Then, the pole barn.

Now, we often see them near our back deck – enjoying bugs among the roots of our giant Sycamore. They venture to the front yard now and again. I’ve even seen them in the side yard under the old flag pole by the barn. Their range gets more and more impressive every week.