What chicken breeds are closest to "your grandfather's chicken"?

[3KillerBs]

Check out this 100-year-old poultry handbook.

Thread 'Poultry for the Farm and Home'

 

[MROO]

I hope this question makes sense. I'm newer to chickens and did not grow up in a family that had them. On BYC, and in real life, I have heard people say that their grandparents didn't feed their chickens any commercial feed, but simply threw the flock a small amount of grains/scratch such as corn, oats, barley, etc. every day and let them find the rest of their food by grazing. People have said you can't do that with today's chickens because they are bred to produce eggs so much that they have dietary needs only the commercial feed can meet. So my question is, is this really true, or are there still breeds that can survive this way? If so, which breeds?

This is all hypothetical, but I can't help but wonder how families raised eggs and meat for hundreds of years using these methods, and now suddenly we can't. I understand why my production RIR can't live on a handful of scratch every day, but I even hear people say the heritage breeds can't. Are we too far away breeding-wise from the breeds of old to do this? Or were chickens back then actually very short-lived and our standards are higher now so we feed this higher quality feed? Well, this has turned into more than one question so I'll stop here, but let me know what you guys think.

Edit: I also wanted to add that I do understand the chickens way back when produced fewer eggs and less meat. I am just asking about why chickens supposedly can't be raised at all using this method anymore.

Big ol' Barnyard mixes!
Yes, we've specialized the old style birds nearly out of existence, but that's not the only reason why many of today's birds don't thrive on scraps and forage. Remember that when Grandpa had his chickens in the back yard, they were NOT pets, at all. They survived on whatever they could find or were given, If they didn't thrive, they got 'et - either by predators or the family. As a result, the backyard flock naturally evolved into the strongest, easiest keepers - and if they laid lots of large eggs, to boot, they lived longer and were able to pass on their genetics. Grandpa and company knew what they were doing!

 

[Red Mangrove]

My Egyptian Fayoumi and American Gamefowl basically fit this role already. I have no doubt they could survive without any of my help

Plenty of natural breeds still exist and they only get more natural the more they mix. Removes genetic bottlenecking

 

[Evadig]

This seems like a really cost-efficient way to feed your chickens. I like that. What breed(s) are they?

One of each: Welsummer, Plymouth Rock, Delaware, and Cream Legbar.

 

[1cock2hens]

My birds only get what they steal from underneath the goats and pigs, I have American gamefowl mixes, I imagine alot of our grandparents had gamefowl or mixed gamefowl in there flocks.

 

[LTAY1946]

In the 19 teens my grandparents had rocks and reds. My grandfather used to talk to me about the traits of them back then. Broody and non broody types too. Don't remember it all as I was preteen at the time.

 

[Gax000]

Check out this 100-year-old poultry handbook.

Thread 'Poultry for the Farm and Home'

I think this excerpt from that book best answers the question at hand.

 

[Perris]

People have said you can't do that with today's chickens because they are bred to produce eggs so much that they have dietary needs only the commercial feed can meet. So my question is, is this really true, or are there still breeds that can survive this way? If so, which breeds?

This is all hypothetical, but I can't help but wonder how families raised eggs and meat for hundreds of years using these methods, and now suddenly we can't.

Edit: I also wanted to add that I do understand the chickens way back when produced fewer eggs and less meat. I am just asking about why chickens supposedly can't be raised at all using this method anymore.

No it isn't true. It's a myth that profits the commercial feed industry.

You might find this article I wrote about feeding chickens useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

It's definitely possible to make chicken feed that meets a modern chicken's nutritional requirements. That does not mean just feeding scratch grains and free ranging, so i don't think thats the question at hand here. Some breeds can manage that way, as previously mentioned - the game breeds in particular.
If I kept commercial type production hens I probably would feed 80% of their diet as layer feed, with the rest being whole grain for gizzard health, and some form of extra protein. I could make a feed for them but it would be much more expensive and time consuming than feeding from a bag. I don't keep commercial bred production hens, so I don't feed this way. It is definitely true that the more genetically mixed your birds get, the more capable they become. It's also true that this generally trends in the direction of laying less eggs!
I feel that under most of the circumstances people keep chickens in today (not as part of a functional small farm with multiple animal species, crops and gardens) - chickens need to be provided with specific feed. That can be commercial feed or it can be homemade feed, or a combination of the two, but it has to be feed that meets their dietary needs in the circumstances that they are kept.

 

[Sussex19]

I agree with most of what other people have said.
An old type farm, which produced all a families food, would have had so many more natural food sources then 'most' back yard chicken keepers.
For example, when ever they would have butchered a sheep, cow or pig, the chickens would have tidied it up. They would have had so many more insects, greens, and old fashioned cultivars of grains.
One of my chicken flocks just gets a hand full of grower feed each in the morning, and in the evening one small handful each of 50/50 scratch mix and lupins.
I have not seen any different in their health to the others that have grower feed available all the time, and scratch only as treats.
The first flock free ranges all day, the second is kept penned.
The first flock may lay a few less eggs, but its hard to tell because so many get lost after they lay them in odd corners where I don't find them.

I do wonder, in human food, dog food, cat food, horse food, there is increasing concerns about highly processed food, some saying they cause cancer.
No one seems to worry about this in chickens.....I think you need to make your own mind up about that.
As far as I am concerned, I know when ever I can avoid it I don't want my chickens only eating highly processed feed.