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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dumpstick" data-source="post: 3060309" data-attributes="member: 41653">We had chickens several years ago. There's just the 2 of us, and 4 hens was more than enough. You want more then 2 birds, they are flock animals, and need company. We let them out in the land (which is part of the reason we don't have them anymore....more later) to graze. They came back into the coop at night (early evening, really) on their own. They ate anything that they could catch - grasshoppers, ticks, snakes, lizards. They actually make good mousers too. The problem - everything eats chickens, or eggs. If it doesn't eat chickens, it kills chickens for sport (dogs). The biggest reason we no longer have hens - I got tired of shooting dogs. Dogs digging into the coop, dogs getting on the roof of the coop and breaking in from there, dogs chasing the hens on my property. Most of them died of lead poisoning (the dogs, not the hens), and the rest got scared off. The problem with shooting dogs - now you've got a dog corpse on your hands. There's only so many ditches to throw them in. After a while, it's easier to get rid of the birds.One thing I did learn - when you shoot your neighbors dog(s) for killing your chickens, DO NOT tell them. When the neighbors come around asking about the missing dog(s), the correct answer is "... well, now, I haven't seen that dog (those dogs) in several days....". Never lie, just answer a different question.</blockquote>