Genuinely free range

The chickens have a very early bedtime (unlike the ducks, who like to push the envelope every night, they put themselves to bed around 6) so by the time I got done with all the fence and gate swapping (the gate I removed got moved to next to the driveway--a whole 'nother pallaver) it was too late for them to go free.  So the next day I opened up their house and let them loose.  It took them about an hour to decide to try the outdoors (again, unlike the ducks who start banging on their house doors and walls at about 6 in the morning and then SPRING LOOSE when someone opens the door--Simon reports that he just undoes the latch and then runs top speed back to the house to be free of their mad dash from their house).  Here they are marveling at the duck pond--which the ducks do NOT like them doing.  It's THEIR duck pond--hence the name "duck pond".

Their coop gets a much needed airing:

Ooh, now this looks truly interesting: a dead log filled with little bugs.  It doesn't get better than that!