Chatted with my neighbor about her grandmas chicken coop and it got me thinking

I was out by my run last Sunday and my neighbor Linda stopped to say hi. She told me her grandma raised chickens back in the 60s and just let them roam the whole yard, no fence, no netting. They came back to the shed at night on their own. I told her I spent 200 bucks on hardware cloth and a predator guard and she just laughed. It hit me that we overthink this stuff now with all the online guides and fancy gear. Her grandma just had a bucket of feed and a locked door at night. Made me wonder if my chickens would be happier with more free range time even if it means a couple get taken by a hawk. Has anyone else scaled back their setup after talking to an old timer about how they did it?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.diana1mo ago

That "bucket of feed and a locked door at night" line really stuck with me. I cut way back on my setup after watching my grandpa's neighbor do the same thing with his Rhode Islands. Ditched the electric netting and just put up a simple lean-to with a pop door. Lost one hen to a fox last fall but the flock is way more relaxed now. They scratch all day, get way more bugs, and honestly the eggs taste better. Less stress on them and less stress on me.

river_hart181mo ago

Funny you say that @fisher.diana, because I went the opposite direction after losing six hens to a neighbor's dog in one afternoon. Added a second layer of deer netting and buried hardware cloth a foot deep around the run. Sure, they don't free range as much, but I haven't lost a bird in three years now. All that relaxed scratching doesn't mean much if a raccoon decides to dig under your lean-to while you're asleep. I'll take slightly less bugs over waking up to a pile of feathers any day.