The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these words:


My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc. They
constantly scratch and peck, foraging for food, even when they have
ample commercial food cut into peck-sized pieces and served up in a
clean container.The yolk colour and taste of eggs and meat from chickens
fed that way is superb; that's what, as a chicken keeper, I classify as
freerange chicken.

Also, hens dustbath. 4 chickens, put in a fenced grassed run the size
of a living room, will soon peck, scratch and dustbath it into a bare
earth run devoid of life. One way round this is a moveable run to
conserve the grass, and give the birds access to fresh supplies of worms
etc. Or, you let them run loose on such a large area that they can never
wear down the herbage, which is what we did. We kept a handful of
chickens on almost 4 acres and they made no impression on it at all.

Janet.