A Pasture-Raised Life For Me

We knew from the beginning that keeping free-range chickens on our farm would be a bit of a challenge.

We probably underestimated just how challenging it would be...or were just a bit naive.  

Chickens that are free to roam actually REALLY love to roam around in spots that you would prefer them to stay far away from. You have all this land to dig and scratch around in, why do you continually choose to do it in my flower bed???

Always so dang curious...

But probably the biggest challenge of all – and the most important one – is keeping them safe. Aside from being out with them every single second of the day – which I am not going to do – you just have to pray that your chickens are smart enough to stay out of harm's way.

Guess what?

They’re not.

We have lost several chickens these past couple of years.

Coyotes, foxes, hawks, owls…

Side note: Did you know that owls are vicious creatures? They carry your chicken off into the night and eat the head. Yep, just pop that thing right off for a midnight snack. Let me tell you, it is quite alarming to discover a chicken body with its head missing.

Those are just the predators we suspect have taken some of our chickens. There are countless other things out there that would do harm to your flock.

Building a fence around our 20 acre property is not a realistic option for us. Plus, those fences don’t keep out what has been the worst offender of them all – hawks.

And well, there is always the option of keeping them in their coop. The coop itself is rather large with an even larger run to give them some access to the outside. Plenty of room for the girls.

However, that option just does not work for me. 

No matter how large, it just isn't large enough. They’ve scratched up every bit of greenery inside the run and have decimated the bug population around the area long ago. Plus, they are just so desperate to be let out every day, squawking at me until I let them free.

How could I keep them in there?

Luckily, we were not the first to face this dilemma and have discovered mobile chicken tractors. 

Genius.

Your flock is out in the fields, scratching, digging, doing everything they love, while still kept out of harm’s way. 

But Sean decided to take it one step further and designed a mobile chicken coop. 

Yes, the chickens have moved to a new home.

One with wheels.

First thing to do in a new home is pick out your room.

It is a bit smaller than their old coop, but sadly, we have a lot less chickens, so there is plenty of room.

And just like your typical chicken tractor, we move it to a new grassy spot every day. 

They have also moved to a location that they were way too afraid of before but some place we desperately need them – and tried in vain to bring them to before – the GARDEN.

Chickens are some of the best resources in the fight for chemical free gardens. They eat all those pesky bugs and their poop is great fertilizer. Some of their favorite scratching places on the lawn have provided the best soil.

Work that soil ladies!

They are still let out of the coop and into the garden but only when we can be out there with them to supervise. The area is pretty open with no trees or bushes for them to hide in.

And they have discovered paradise...

This must be what chicken heaven is like.

Lots of things to scratch up. Lots of things to eat. 

No chance of being eaten alive.

It’s a win, win for everyone.

So, we are changing our chickens/eggs from "free-range" to "pasture-raised." I guess you could technically still call our birds free-range since they do have plenty of access to the outside but I think the term pasture-raised fits a lot better.

As always, Althea keeps an ever watchful eye on her flock.