[Smokin' Joe]

Okay. You pay the extra for your eggs. I’d love to have chickens roaming around like my grandparents did...but the coyotes would love it, too, and I don’t need cougar bait around the place.

[yldstrk]

What about a hen house? Is there no in between from having them stacked in wire cages to free range? And I do pay extra for free range.

[Ditter]

You are sure right about coyotes killing free ranging chicken. Raccoons will do it too. My friend wanted chickens wandering around her wooded city yard and the varmints made short work of them. Then she build a chicken house to put them in at night. She discovered that the raccoons could reach inside get a part of the live chicken and eat what they could reach. Gruesome scene! She doesn't talk about free range chickens anymore.