My "free range" experiment backfired after 6 days

Last month I let my 12 hens roam the whole yard for a week, figured it would save on feed and make them happy. Day 6 I found three of them dead near the neighbor's fence, looks like a dog got through a gap I never noticed. Now they're back in the run with 40 feet of covered space, and I'm rebuilding the perimeter with hardware cloth this weekend. Anyone else had a free range disaster that made you rethink the setup entirely?

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1 Comment

gibson.mark29d ago

Predators are part of the deal, the covered run just buys them time.