Keeping Chickens Free Range

[duluthralphie]

Coyotes have been VERY close to the house about 6 nights out of 10. I'm Sure they smell the chickens. When my Hound dog gets crazy, I LET HER OUT! Neighbors may not like it but Had one trespassing to TAKE video of my 'MESS' so, GEE, don't think I CARE Much.

Glad the 5 girls are squeezing into the 3 hen hutch each night.
I'm pretty much the same. Hear the Hamburger Haulers go by in the Spring. The kids who think cause family owns a few acres up here they're ok to speed. I have to smile when they honk at a loose horse, steer. Free range up here, so a CRACK UP imagining what they tell their Insurance about hitting stock on a Rd they're ONLY supposed to be traveling 35 MPH on..

I told the county Building inspector who came out to complain about "my mess" To not look at it if it bothers him...


He had to find it on Google earth photos. He had a copy of the photo with him. When I told him some of that junk was my Grandpa's and had been here over 100 years, His response was " well, then it's about time you clean it up"..


I then said " You really do not know much about a heritage farm do you?"


He said " what's a heritage farm?"..

I then told him to leave and bring a warrant next time he wants to look at something of mine...... have not seen him since. That was 3 years ago or more.




.. BTW My mess is hidden from view from anything but the air. I have a huge swamp and trees surrounding me. The only place you can see any of it is from my land.

 

[Tikkijane]

Chickens of those types should not be free-range kept. Even as adults that are small. They are also lacking in suitable behavior and awareness.

I completely disagree. Out of my current 30+ bantams, those are the only 2 that have been lost to a hawk. This wasn't an aerial swoop attack, either. They had all shuttled UNDER the coverage, which is where I found the hawk eating the one. They shuttled to safety and stood their ground to defend. They were right in there with my large fowl birds.

Obviously, with heavily crested silkies {or polish, or sultans, etc} you need to make sure they can see properly. Mine can see, and react just like all the rest of my birds. And, they hang with them. My silkie girls are usually broody, so they don't tend to get as far from the coops overall.

And speaking of roos- I usually have around 20 males at one time. It is *magnificient* to see them all work together and form a perimeter around the girls and shuttle them one place to another. All of them- bantam and large fowl- CAN and DO work together. We had a rogue rampaging bull {not mine, obviously} we named Cooper {as in D.B. Cooper} who was then joined by Bonnie and Clyde a month into his 4 month adventure. {It was a big brouhaga which resulted in lots of sheriff deputies and a restraining order.}

Anyhow. Bantams do just fine, so long as they can see, have coverage, and escape routes. In fact, they do WAAAAAY betted than meaties.

 

[Beekissed]

I think I have the worlds smartest or laziest chickens.

I stopped feeding them in the morning because they would not free range, they just laid under the lilacs all day long.

This year they seem to be smarter. I let them out and the lay under the lilac all day long. When I come out the door they run to the deck waiting for handouts. (yep, I feed them table scraps). A few might wander as far as the wild bird feeders to get the droppings. Most just rush to the deck when we are on it or stay under the lilacs.

In the evening they sit on the deck steps and wait for me to bring them feed. They know I will feed them at night.

Should I send them to bed without feed a few nights to see if they will start acting like chickens again and forage? We have a huge woods right next to the house. most years they have it wore down to nothing with their scratching and digging. This year it looks like a jungle, I doubt a bird has even ventured into it.



So how do I combat "lazy Chicken Disorder"?


Once we get that solved we need to tackle "Hidden egg syndrome".

Don't feed so much. Feed amounts fluctuate throughout the year as the birds find more or less out on forage in certain months, as they eat less in hotter weather, during molt, etc. I'd adjust feed amounts accordingly, keep stocking rates low so as not to deplete the available forage, and just watch the birds....if they are hanging around for food that you give but don't seem to want to hunt for their own, I'd say you are feeding too much.

Mine will gang up on me twice a day~hopefully...wanting food~but soon disperse when they find they aren't getting fed at that particular time. They hunt all day and get fed each evening in case the hunting was not successful. Any lazy chickens or breeds that persist in haunting the feeder instead of the pasture are regularly weeded out during the yearly culling sessions. Only hard workers kept here.

If you can feasibly do so, you can lock them in the coop for a week to retrain to the nests on occasion....that seems to work very well for my flocks.

 

[centrarchid]

System I use to adjust the amount of feed put out takes into consideration amount of feed at end of day, crop fill of birds late in day or after going to roost, and ranging habits. Ideally all feed put out in morning is consumed before end of day. Generally all feed I put out is consumed before noon. The birds still need to go to roost with fully distended crops or have good amounts of material in crop about half way into night. Also birds ideally do not range more than a couple hundred yards from roost otherwise they will be inclined to shift roosting site away from one you provide to make so finding eats is easier, With some hens they will not go very far from foraging / loafing area to nest or lay an egg which can contribute to production of eggs you do not harvest as hens will select their own nest sites.


Ranging habits can be estimated on weekends and at end of day when day length is long during the pasture production season. End of day observations are not as informative when day length is short. Seasonal adjustments can also be made with respect to crop fill. During periods of extreme cold while nights are very long I will step in with energy dense whole corn to ensure crops are well distended beyond the halfway point of the night. When it is cold they process more energy (within limits) per unit time plus they have a longer period between last and first feedings of succeeding days.

 

[duluthralphie]

The tree Sussex is out of the tree!

I thought she had 4 babies, She brought out 11.








I will get the baby pictures as soon as I can.

 

[lazy gardener]

Congrats. I was wondering how this story would end.

 

[Beekissed]

The tree Sussex is out of the tree!

I thought she had 4 babies, She brought out 11.








I will get the baby pictures as soon as I can.

Now THAT'S a great nest site! That bird's a keeper....

 

[mpmb1227]

I'm moving to a house surrounded by woods, all sides, I will be getting my first chickens in a month! The previous owners left a 24 box chicken coop, lucky me! I'm going to start small with 4. How many could I keep with 24 boxes?

I know there are many predators in the area but I want to let the chickens roam during the day. Any thoughts about safety?

The number of boxes doesn't equate number of chickens, necessarily. It depends on the amount of space you have in the coop, a good rule of thumb I've heard is between 3-5 square feet per hen, depending on their size (3 for bantys, 5 for heavy standard breeds). However, it's a good idea to have 1 box per 2-3 birds, in my opinion. About the risk of free ranging, there is always going to be a chance of predators no matter the circumstances. Some breeds are particularly good for evading becoming dinner, but I can't remember which ones. Do a little research and you should find more info.

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

The tree Sussex is out of the tree!

I thought she had 4 babies, She brought out 11.








I will get the baby pictures as soon as I can.

GREAT News!

 

[cannon6]

I have a question. We want to free range our chickens in our front fenced in yard but their coop and run is out back with,a pool and out building in between. How can we train them to go the front yard and then come back to the coop at night? I have been taking them to this area for the past 4 days by hand but it's a bit aggravating and time consuming.