We live in an area surrounded by hobby farms. When you leave here to head to town you will see full size horses, wee little mini horses, full size goats, wee little pygmy goats, sheep, cows, etc. etc. The one thing I haven't noticed though is chickens. I'm thinking this could be for a couple of reasons. The first possibility is that it's an area prone to predators. I watch the hawks swirling around the back yard every day. I'm told there are eagles nests nearby as well. There are plenty of coyotes, raccoons and even a health conscious fox who we've seen jogging along the road. All of them would just love to stop by for a quick chicken sandwich. Perhaps the neighbors already figured that out the hard way?
If we're going to do this I want good tasting eggs. The only way to do that is to let them wander around eating all the bugs and grass they want. So how on earth am I going to keep these chickens safe AND let them free range? And most importantly, do it on the cheap? Because the other possibility for the lack of chickens in the area could be that they realized chickens aren't really profitable. You would think, since the chickens produce eggs, it could be a cash producing venture. But if you're going to calculate the the cost of their housing into the picture then you'd need the county equivalent to low income housing.
I don't think these chickens have been watching a lot of HGTV so I'm hoping they won't mind the sky high security fence and bars over the windows look we have planned for them at the west end of the barn.
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