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Hi Ruth,
I never worry about throwing the feed on the ground either. I find it keeps them busy and happy. I can put some in their feeders but if I toss it on the ground they want that first. Mine never get sick either.
How do you keep your breeds pure though and not have mixed breeds if they are all free range?
I have some penned and some (ones I am going to cull) free range and the ones who free range just never fight. The caged one will get snippy at each other.
I put those I'm breeding in pens but I'll only put one roo to a dozen hens or a couple of roos to a whole bunch of hens. I only keep them penned for a few months then release them and use the pens for another breed. They have plenty of room in their pens and again, I don't use feeders. I go out at least three times a day and toss feed on the ground into the pen so everyone scatters and eats. I also throw all of our scraps to the caged birds since they can't free range. The other 200+ free range and all get along just fine. I use their eggs for hatching "mixed breeds" and for selling as eating eggs. Which, by the way, an egg from a free range bird tastes so much better than that from a caged bird and the yolk is orange.
The other thing I have noticed is that the ones I am free ranging right now (they are actually culls waiting to be sold or processed) are looking healthier and getting bigger faster than the caged ones.
I can't free range my purebreds right now due to fox coming for chicken dinner all day long. I have grasshoppers here like the plague and the chickens help keep that problem down.
Now if I could get them to come over to the front of the house and get rid of the nasty grasshoppers over there I would be thrilled.
I have been watching to see just how much feed I need to throw them to have them survive out there on their own. They follow me to all the coops waiting for handouts. I throw a little here and there to keep them from being underfoot but I don't give them much.
According to their crops, they are getting some good food with the bugs.
Oh sheesh, I didn't mean to hijack! I guess my point here would be to free range the ones you can so that they stop picking each other. Sorry!!!!!
Hi Ruth,
I never worry about throwing the feed on the ground either. I find it keeps them busy and happy. I can put some in their feeders but if I toss it on the ground they want that first. Mine never get sick either.
How do you keep your breeds pure though and not have mixed breeds if they are all free range?
I have some penned and some (ones I am going to cull) free range and the ones who free range just never fight. The caged one will get snippy at each other.
I put those I'm breeding in pens but I'll only put one roo to a dozen hens or a couple of roos to a whole bunch of hens. I only keep them penned for a few months then release them and use the pens for another breed. They have plenty of room in their pens and again, I don't use feeders. I go out at least three times a day and toss feed on the ground into the pen so everyone scatters and eats. I also throw all of our scraps to the caged birds since they can't free range. The other 200+ free range and all get along just fine. I use their eggs for hatching "mixed breeds" and for selling as eating eggs. Which, by the way, an egg from a free range bird tastes so much better than that from a caged bird and the yolk is orange.
The other thing I have noticed is that the ones I am free ranging right now (they are actually culls waiting to be sold or processed) are looking healthier and getting bigger faster than the caged ones.
I can't free range my purebreds right now due to fox coming for chicken dinner all day long. I have grasshoppers here like the plague and the chickens help keep that problem down.
Now if I could get them to come over to the front of the house and get rid of the nasty grasshoppers over there I would be thrilled.
I have been watching to see just how much feed I need to throw them to have them survive out there on their own. They follow me to all the coops waiting for handouts. I throw a little here and there to keep them from being underfoot but I don't give them much.
According to their crops, they are getting some good food with the bugs.
Oh sheesh, I didn't mean to hijack! I guess my point here would be to free range the ones you can so that they stop picking each other. Sorry!!!!!
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