They certainly do have preferences. My mother's neighbor has a few chickens, and because my mom loves to feed any creature that can find her back yard, the chickens spend a lot of time in her yard along with stray cats, squirrels, skunks, pigeons and an occasional deer or fox. But those chickens are something else. They don't even move for the lawn mower. I had to keep cutting around them and then go back once they decided to move on.