Hi

Here I am again with even more questions!! (just wait until they arrive ) I do want to get everything just right for when my hens arrive and this is an excellent source of information.

Once the hens are settled I was planning on letting them free range but I have bought a nice big hen house with a run so that on the rare occasions that the house is empty, I can put the hens in the run for safety. Is this necessary or are they safe to free range all day without supervision?

Also we are not garden proud at all so the hens can make all the mess they want but we do have a veg patch, do I need to fence this off?

Toni

Anything that you do not want 'trashed' by hens will need to be fenced off. They are very partial to all sorts of plants, fruit and vegetables

As far as free-ranging is concerned it depends on how safe you feel they will be while you are out. I live in a semi rural area, my hens are protected by large runs with poultry netting overhead and the panels go down a few feet underground, just in case Mr or Mrs Fox fancies a snack. Just depends on risk of predators (four legged and the naughty two legged variety!!).