We've wanted to add more hens to our flock for some time now, but were delayed in this as we attempted to sell our house. We eventually came to the conclusion that it was not time to sell and thought about how we might make our current 1/3 of an acre work better for our current hens and a possible flock expansion.
It turns out this was pretty simple. We purchased 200 feet of farm fencing from Tractor Supply and spent an afternoon hammering in stakes and putting up fencing in the yard. The girls now have a significantly larger area to roam around in and surprisingly have NOT destroyed our grass!
The ladies free range all day, from 6am till 8pm. They know to head back to the coop in the evening and have found some nice spots to hide when predators (mainly our resident red tail hawk) are nearby. The first couple of days I thought for sure I'd come home to four dead or missing hens, but it turns out the ladies are pretty good at taking care of themselves.
We've enjoyed watching them in the evening as they chase bugs and run around. They are so tired at the end of the day that they often will come over and sit on my lap to have a pre-bed nap.
While we were not able to sell our house and purchase something else with more land, we are finding that our little 1/3 acre in suburbia is turning out to be just perfect for us and our flock.
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