Keeping Chickens Free Range

[lynnehd]

free ranging they usually get plenty of protein from bugs worms etc, mine are doing fine and on 3*1 scratch grains without mollassass , they don't seem to care for any of the so called chicken feeds. There is a difference though free ranged have access to what they naturally eat, cooped does not and you have feed them the other type mainly

That's true; I think it depends on how much variety and space they have when free ranging.
I have heard some advise still having regular chicken feed available, in case they can't meet all of their needs free ranging, but this may apply to hens more than roosters.

 

[slordaz]

Yep and as I have a mixed flock varying in ages and hens roosters and ducks in there I give them the option of starter/grower food and oyster shell in separate feeding lids then remove it after a half hour so as to not attract scavengers and other pests. there is never an absolute have to other than they are eating enough when free ranged. My leghorn hens even catch mice they find trying to make a nest in the calves straw bales. Best advice is watch your flock if you know your flocks normal you'll spot anything abnormal and can make corrections. Mine like their treats from the garden and have learned to stay out of it or they don't get any. faves are watermelon, bell pepper and sugar snap peas, and the ones laying all lay pretty dang good eggs.

Lynn yes I agree space as well as season does come into factoring in on feeding. Ours is they have a corral and 5 acres of pasture and a pond area with trees and the garden so it does attract a variety of different kinds of bugs. and they are entertained getting them.

We plant all heirloom vegetables in the garden as we don't like genetically modified stuff, they don't have the extended life of the genetically modified stuff but at least our chickens love them and don't have to worry science is trying to make our chickens Franken chickens or they are not actually getting any nutritional value from the vegetables they do get to eat.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have layer feed available for everyone, but they seldom use it this time of year. I have not had to add to the feeder in weeks. They prefer the stuff they catch and their nightly treats/scratch. Even the nightly chicken TV time is slow this time of year, they have so much natural food, they just are not that excited about scratch.



They must be full, they spend most of their time laying around the yard. When they are hungry I see them chasing bugs and moths.

 

[MTCoop]

This has probably already been addressed on this forum somewhere, but I have a question about free ranging and laying eggs in the nesting box. We have 5 leghorns that are a year old. We have let them free range for quite some time now and they always go into the coop to lay their eggs in the nesting boxes. This year we got 5 red sex links and we let them free range with our other girls. They just starting laying a couple of weeks ago - well, at least two of them have. We always have one brown egg in the box and once we had two but never any more than that. All the chickens roost in the coop for the night and in the morning, we let them out into the yard. This morning I heard one of our red hens under a huge climbing hydrangea bush. I dug through the brush to see her sitting quite content in a little leaf litter nest that she had made for herself. I went back an hour later - she was gone, but there in the nest were 5 small brown eggs. I am wondering if any of the other reds are laying somewhere in our 1.5 acre lot! Does anyone have any advice as to how to make these girls start/keep laying in the nesting box. We were thinking of letting our leghorns out to free range and keeping the reds inside the coop with the run for a few days to see if that would 'teach' them to lay in the nesting boxes. Any thoughts?

 

[Debby27]

This has probably already been addressed on this forum somewhere, but I have a question about free ranging and laying eggs in the nesting box. We have 5 leghorns that are a year old. We have let them free range for quite some time now and they always go into the coop to lay their eggs in the nesting boxes. This year we got 5 red sex links and we let them free range with our other girls. They just starting laying a couple of weeks ago - well, at least two of them have. We always have one brown egg in the box and once we had two but never any more than that. All the chickens roost in the coop for the night and in the morning, we let them out into the yard. This morning I heard one of our red hens under a huge climbing hydrangea bush. I dug through the brush to see her sitting quite content in a little leaf litter nest that she had made for herself. I went back an hour later - she was gone, but there in the nest were 5 small brown eggs. I am wondering if any of the other reds are laying somewhere in our 1.5 acre lot! Does anyone have any advice as to how to make these girls start/keep laying in the nesting box. We were thinking of letting our leghorns out to free range and keeping the reds inside the coop with the run for a few days to see if that would 'teach' them to lay in the nesting boxes. Any thoughts?

I would do that MT.....keep them inside for a day or 3....

I had to do that the other day with 2 1.5yr old RIR's/Comets?.....they were all laying 3 eggs a day....my other RIR Gladys is on a every other day schedule...we think these 2 hens are Comets? At least someone said they may be...anywho....for a week now, the 2 new girls quit laying...only got maybe 1 egg every other day...while Gladys is still on her laying schedule....I put some basil in the coop to help ward off bugs...My BF seems to think they don't like it and are laying somewhere else...although I cannot find any eggs...I think it may be due to the extreme heat we had....not sure...I guess I could take the basil out of the coop and see if that is what's wrong....anyone!?

and I apologize MT..it seems I piggybacked onto you query....lol

 

[slordaz]

also from what I am seeing if they just started laying they probably working kinks out, got one that had been laying about 3 weeks when we bought her and she does lay daily, but the other 3 leghorns started 2 days after we got them and been laying for a week now, they are sporadic but do have it down already they are to lay in the laying boxes in the coop, funny thing is though the brown leghorn that had been laying before we got them acted like she wanted to brood so we let her, now have all the chickens laying as usual but 3 of the leghorns take turns sitting on the eggs in the nest, so it is covered almost 24/7 since the others started laying. I have never heard of chickens doing this.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Half of my chickens ration is corn and scratch, mine free range, I don't buy into that feed only layer school of thought, my birds lay decently, live fairly long, are hardly ever sick, been doing this for almost 20 years, too late to change now.

 

[slordaz]

well we found out today that the leghorns are good mousers too lol.

 

[duluthralphie]

Half of my chickens ration is corn and scratch, mine free range, I don't buy into that feed only layer school of thought, my birds lay decently, live fairly long, are hardly ever sick, been doing this for almost 20 years, too late to change now.

Ditto!!!

I buy layer mash and have it available, but it is mainly a winter feed. Do not forget table scraps they luv em!

 

[MTCoop]

Thanks Debby! This morning when we went out there was a red and a leghorn in the same nesting box, both trying to lay. The leghorns are not super kind to our reds and we think they may not be letting them into the boxes. We are going to try adding two more boxes to the coop today to see if that will help. We also found three brown eggs this morning on the floor of the coop which is something new. Hopefully the addition of the new boxes will help alleviate some of the tension. Thanks again!!