The chickens my family had were from a remote corner of the globe where they had been bred selectively towards successful brooding as the most crucial characteristic for countless generations. They weren't particularly docile--I've seen a hen run straight at and attack a hawk that had landed on...
So as a kid my family raised chickens the "old fashioned way". We had a coop enclosed in chicken wire, which we opened every day to let them roam, and that was it. During the day they had zero protection from predators (hawks and falcons, this was out in the Cameroonian bush btw) and zero...