Jail Birds...

The birds have been moved out to pasture in the mobile coop, they've been there for some time now, enjoying life on the range.  As you might be able to see from the picture below, we have netting around the coop to try to keep them contained for a couple of days.  Chickens will venture out as far as two football fields away from where they roost.  Within two football fields of their mobile coop is our house and backyard, which has been their home for a while.  The containment for a few days was a way to try to keep the chickens around the coop and out of our yard.  While I enjoyed seeing them every day, having them peck at the door for some attention/food/etc., and playing "fetch" with them (yes, they loved to chase after dog toys), I didn't miss the grass around the foundation of our house dug up or fighting them off when the little one and I tried to have picnics.

We let the net down after a couple of days and had 4 return to the backyard in the afternoon.  The next day we had about 15 return back to the house.  Finally, after 4 days, Dave was returning more chickens to the mobile coop than those that stayed behind.  (Below is a picture of some of our jail birds as they were making their way back to the coop.)  Now, well over a week or two later, the birds are further from the house, but we still have one or two stubborn ladies that after a half-hour of being let out of the coop (we don't use the netting any more), they are back around the house.  Let me tell you, that's a far distance for a chicken to travel, so you know those ladies are hustling to get back.  Every night now, Dave makes the trip to the mobile coop to lock them in (and keep out predators) with two chickens in tow.