We've had chickens for the past seven years, A flock comes and goes about every two years. Last year when we went out of the country for a month something ate our whole flock!  We thought that might happen and were kind of ok with it. They were on year two and had pretty much stopped laying eggs every day. They were also eating up my garden and pecking holes in my tomatoes! So they got banished to total free-range status, which means no feed at all. It's an eat what you can find kind of thing. Around our property, a chicken can live really happy that way!  This new flock we started in the early spring. We just picked up some from tractor supply. It seems like we have been raising this flock forever. They have gone through all kinds of disasters. They had snakes eating them, then an owl, a raccoon and finally some hawks eyeing them. We moved one of our guardian dogs near them and he sorted things out but not before we lost a good many of them. Our free-range chickens are finally laying eggs again. That means fresh eggs for us, which means beautiful golden yokes and tasty eggs again!   In a few more weeks we should be getting a dozen a day, which is really about what our family eats!
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