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The survival rate of wild turkey poults, in the wild, is very similar to wild RJF; 33% of each hatched chick. If you count unhatched eggs, its around 10%. I also saw a study that indicated that only a small percentage of all living RJF in a particular area successfully produce the next...

They have predators in Hawaii and specifically on Maui. Mongoose and feral cats come to mind. Chickens in their wild, red junglefowl, state are regarded as some of the most predator-resistant animals on earth by naturalists. The Hawaii chickens have varying degrees of RJF in them. Although not...

NM I see you chimed in some time ago saying the same thing. To respectfully reiterate, yes chickens can free range and forage just fine in predator-dense areas with minimal human care and reproduce faster than predators can take them. Whether the OP’s did or not, I do not remember. Free range...

Have you read this thread all of the way through? Its a fact that there are many breeds of chickens in the world, primarily the game breeds, that free range fine all year with no significant predator protection besides simply living close to a human settlement as is typical in a free range...

Here’s a random nest box with a broody hen, located about 75 yards from where most of the Crackers roost and equally far from where I throw scratch in the mornings.

Two points. First, my 100% free range flock prefers nest boxes scattered around the farmyard. They instinctively know the nest boxes are safer places to nest. I estimate I get up to 75% of the eggs laid around the farm, with hidden nests becoming the norm only when nest boxes fill up with broody...

Are we talking about the motivation of raising chickens for fun or or the technique of raising them free range and self-sustaining with little to no human intervention? The latter was the normal techique for how chickens were raised for most of history, originally for the purpose of cockfighting...

That’s how everyone raised chickens from the Middle Ages through the 1700s. The Greeks and Romans also raised coop chickens like we do now. And all the Greco-Roman coop chickens died or reverted to a feral state when Rome’s global supply chain failed. Some of us think the same thing is going...

All stock.

Going back to foraging. In the mornings at daylight the 58 free range birds get 3.8lbs of feed between all of them. That works out to roughly .066lbs of feed per bird. The ration is made up of roughly equal parts of cracked corn, sweet feed, and 16% layer crumble. The get no evening feeding...

The Wyandottes can be the first ones off the roost in the morning before daylight if I'm putting feed out and in a rush to get gone before work. It will aggravate me because I don't trust them not to get popped by an owl if they're foraging around half an hour before first light. But... it...

The only possibility I cannot rule out is that the reflection they clearly have isn't caused by a tapetum lucidem but is instead caused by a different structure such as their double retina. Even so, I can't imaging that a structure in their eye that reflects visible light isn't somehow helping...

Here's a pic that will hit on three aspects of free ranging at once: 1. They have night vision. I'm sure not as good as a cat, but any eyeshine is better than none and better than how our eyes process low light. 2. They can take the weather in the open just fine, at least to what north...

Most nights, yes. On the nights I don’t I close the coop I close the run instead. I usually only leave the coop open and the run closed on mornings I want to sleep in. Generally I don’t fail to close them up at night because I believe the coop roosting flock is more vulnerable than the outside...

Same here, although in truth it’s the chickens that decide how much of a risk they take. I currently have 58 free range adult chickens. Exactly half (29) roost in a shed that was converted to a coop, and half (29) roost outside. I let them decide who wants to roost where. By either coincidence...

I think it would beneficial to point out that contrary to conventional wisdom and many websites, some or all chickens do in fact appear to have tapetum lucidum and a degree of night vision. When my free range flock of games/JF hybrids and guineas are disturbed at night, they fly off into the...

AccidentalFarm, do you want this thread to stay just focused on free-range foraging/food, or are you ok with us talking about other aspects of free-range survival as well? Today I saw a thread about nightime behavior in chickens and it got me thinking about how that factors into myths we believe...

Wild turkeys have definitely left my property as my flock has matured and grown. I can’t speculate whether it’s disease or whether it’s my free range dogs keeping them repelled back. It may simply be the lack of supplemental feed out in the woods that previously kept the turkeys baited on...

You should have seen the consternation from the “Unpopular Opinions” thread where I talked about free ranging, letting the chickens outmaneuver predators, and whatnot. People rent their shirts and cried blasphemy like imps dowsed with holy water.

I’m in zone 8b up near the border. You’re probably warmer than me so you likely have more options. Pears always seem to grow well in 8b and 9a. I don’t know how they do well below that. Oaks do well by my chickens. Mine love acorns in the fall and the leaf litter gives them something to...