[JavaBrewer]

A couple years ago my son started with 7 chickens - 6 hens and a rooster. He hand raised them from hatch lings bought at the local feed/supply store. I helped him build a secure coop for the birds but ultimately it was too small for that many birds. We let them free range on our property during the day which was actually very fun for everyone. The rooster was friendly to us and the chickens would eat from our hands. Our property is mostly fenced and pretty private - about 1 acre in size. We ended up losing all the chickens within 2 years to predators (hawks and various 4 legged). When out of the coop they would roam our entire property and sometimes head over to the neighbors, under the watchful eye of rooster, but would always return at dusk to the coop area. If we were too late to close the coop they would fly up into a large tree above the coop to roost. Big mistake was that we treated them like pets, gave them names, which made it more difficult for all of us when they were taken. Haha yes we're a bunch of softies here too. My wife and I are still considering starting another batch of 6 or so but not fully committed just yet.