We started out with one coop that we kept them secure in for well over a year. We had just over a dozen birds in there and where getting about 8 eggs a day. Then I built a small horse barn and enclose one corner of it as another coop with another dozen or so birds. That second coop has a fence with hot wires on it, so we tried letting them out to see what would happen. They wondered all around, in and out of the fenced area without any issues. Coyotes and racoons left tracks going up to the fence, then either turning around real fast, or following it all the way around. The hot wire works!!!
Then my wife got the idea that she wanted different colored eggs, so she started getting all sorts of different chickens. That became expensive, so then we tried incubating them. That failed miserably. For a variety of reasons, we never got one egg to hatch.
Last year we decided to let the hens who wanted to sit on eggs, sit on the eggs, and see what happened. We ended up with about 60 that hatched. We took each one away from the nest and kept them indoors, inside a cage with a heat lamp, water and food. They quickly grew and developed their feathers. We put several of them them into the first coop, inside a dog kennel for about a week, and then released them into the coop with the other birds. We did this over and over again until the coop was too crowded.
We opened up that coop and hoped for the best. All of the birds ran out, spread out, and started eating bubs in the yard. They mingled with the birds in the other coop, and quickly developed little groups with each other that stay together as they wonder around. They never go too far, and usually are always in sight of the house. Some will come into the garage and steal cat food, others are very wild and you cannot get close to them.
Every morning at 7am, I open up the coop as part of my morning chores. One of the funnest things to see is all those chickens running out of the coop!!!!!
Once it starts getting dark out, they all go back to their coops for the night. They also go back there to the nesting boxes to lay their eggs. We're getting about 3 dozen eggs a day on a really good day, two dozen most days. Of all the chicks that hatched, we've had to kill dozens of roosters that where just plain mean and aggressive to us, and the hens. Roosters are the devil!!! As of today, I think we have six roosters and probably 40- 50 hens. We don't find all the eggs they lay, as some will find a spot out of the way. Two days ago, while getting something off of a shelf in our lean-to beside the garage, my wife found 5 baby chicks under a hen. We had no idea she had been nesting there. Then yesterday, there was another baby chick with six more eggs under her.
Hawks account for a few losses. Owls might get some too, but they would have to hunt during the day when the birds are out and about, which is rare. Coyotes are probably our biggest issue. They probably killed a dozen a year. We hunt coyotes and manage to get a few every year, but don't know if it's made a difference or not. We watch for tracks all the time, and after killing a coyote, we can see that there are not tracks for a while.
We also have dogs, and know of at least three chickens that have died after flying over the fence into their yard. We blame the roosters for that, as they can be brutal to the hens and eventually they will do anything to escape them. Roosters are the devil!!!!!
We expect to have a lot more chicks next year in the spring when we let them sit on their eggs again. I have no idea how many we will eventually have, but with free ranging them all day long, there isn't the same restrictions as when keeping them in a coop.
My wife after letting them out of our first coop.
Feeding time at the horse barn. The chicken coop is barely visible in the back, right corner.
Newest baby chicks, born around Oct 6 2017
Our favorite rooster. He is a Buff Opington, and he is very protective of the ladies.
Some of our fun to watch, crazy looking birds!!!
. (On the other hand, there are lots of wild ones up st our Cottage.)
