Malibu free-range chicken owner MiChela Anderson has owned chickens for three decades. Anderson describes her daily routine taking care of her flock.
“My typical day in terms of chicken care is, first, I let them out. They’re kind of free range and never go very far,” Anderson said. “Once out of the coop, I collect the eggs and then maybe spend a little time with them, and clean the coop. I feed them laying pellets, but they find bugs and grass to eat when they free-range.”
To get them to come back to the coop later, Anderson doesn’t try to herd them; she offers them “hen bait”— favorite foods like green leafy vegetables or red fruit like strawberry tops, cherries or tomatoes. She might also put “scratch,” a mixture of cracked corn and other grains, into a plastic container. “When I shake the corn container, they come running!” she said.
“When you get new chickens, they have to be introduced to the existing group gradually, or they might get pecked on,” Anderson said. “Chickens have personalities. In my new flock, there’s a scaredy cat.”