Best Breeds For Free Ranging?

[Mrs. K]

I live in SD, and we have predators. I tried the brown birds camouflage idea and truthfully it did not make any difference. More than once the white bird and the black birds came back when the brown bird did not. Someone told me that the brown bird looks like a moving rabbit. Whatever.

The only thing that works for me, is a good rooster. NOW NOT ALL roosters are good ones. You need to look around your area, find a rooster that has been raised up in a multi-generational flock that is also free ranged.

Do know that if the predators find you, they will be back. They will bring friends. I have a coop run, set up, that if I locked you in, you would have a hard time getting out. So that I can go into lock down if I get hit.

I don't free range every day, or on the same time pattern. Predators are smart. Once they left a note asking for BBQ sauce, they were tired of them plain. And they can decimate your flock - which means no eggs.


Mrs K

 

[TexasBlues]

Try a mixed flock with brown leghorns, anerican games and fayoumis and see what happens.
My whiting true blue chicks have some brown wild type birds that have excellent camouflage.
I’m pretty sure a hawk can distinguish between crows and black chickens. If you can tell the difference, they sure can.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I live in SD, and we have predators. I tried the brown birds camouflage idea and truthfully it did not make any difference. More than once the white bird and the black birds came back when the brown bird did not. Someone told me that the brown bird looks like a moving rabbit. Whatever.

The only thing that works for me, is a good rooster. NOW NOT ALL roosters are good ones. You need to look around your area, find a rooster that has been raised up in a multi-generational flock that is also free ranged.

Do know that if the predators find you, they will be back. They will bring friends. I have a coop run, set up, that if I locked you in, you would have a hard time getting out. So that I can go into lock down if I get hit.

I don't free range every day, or on the same time pattern. Predators are smart. Once they left a note asking for BBQ sauce, they were tired of them plain. And they can decimate your flock - which means no eggs.


Mrs K

I think if your wanting to free range Mrs.K has the right idea. I don't free range, if I had 20 or 30 chickens it could be an option but I have 7 and to lose 1 or more would knock egg production down to much.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I live in SD, and we have predators. I tried the brown birds camouflage idea and truthfully it did not make any difference. More than once the white bird and the black birds came back when the brown bird did not. Someone told me that the brown bird looks like a moving rabbit. Whatever.

In the last year out of a flock that ranges from 50-100 (depending on how I cull them), I've lost 3 pure Fayoumi (half white) and 2 Fayoumi / AGF mixes (also half white). I'm in a unique situation because my land is forested but so far it seems that in a southern forest white birds are truly cursed

Out of compassion for my animals I'll be avoiding all colors that don't camoflage in the future. No white, blue, lavender and so on

It sounds like you're personally free-ranging to the maximal extent that a snowy, grassy area would allow

 

[Mrs. K]

If you have only lost 5 birds out of 50-100, you really don't have too bad of predator problems. We have hawks and eagles - but I have had much worse luck with coyotes in the day time, and coons at night.

Different country, different problems.

I do hope you report back, and see if the color made that much of a difference.

Mrs K

 

[JedJackson]

A couple of thoughts-

First, it depends on what type of aerial predators you have, meaning size and how large of a bird they can carry. Small hawks and owls are much less likely to attack large breeds like Jersey Giants. Red tailed hawks and horned owls can take any size, even geese.

Second, Leghorns, Fayoumis and the other small breeds are likely to want to roost in trees, which makes them easy pickings for owls at night and coyotes in the morning, when they fly down. It's not easy to get these breeds to roost inside the coop unless you attract them with food later in the day and lock them inside.

Certain breeds are well noted for being good at evading predators. American gamefowl, first and foremost, but they lay few eggs. Penedesencas are another, especially the partridge variety. Icelandics as well. But any of these breeds will suffer losses. Hawks and owls are smart! Providing lots of cover and places to hide can help.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Second, Leghorns, Fayoumis and the other small breeds are likely to want to roost in trees, which makes them easy pickings for owls at night and coyotes in the morning, when they fly down. It's not easy to get these breeds to roost inside the coop unless you attract them with food later in the day and lock them inside.

My chickens have been roosting in trees for almost three years now, with zero tree fatalities. The first year I didn't have a dog and racoons or possums would come attack them in the night occasionally and the chickens would simply fly away. Then I would come outside and dispatch the predator

I think the type of tree they use makes all the difference. Here they roost mostly in yaupon holly, which forms an under-canopy about 10-15 feet, which is itself under other larger trees. There's hawks, owls and eagles here but when the brush gets thick enough (like an actual jungle) then birds of prey don't even make the attempt

Foxes in the morning are a non-issue also. They're not fast or sneaky enough to catch anything that isn't a dysgenic production breed. I've even seen a game hen attack and punk out a fox before

If people had tough chickens and trusted their instincts I believe that they would be pleasantly surprised for the most part. Game chickens aren't too different from junglefowl, which have survived for millions of years in quite formidable jungles

 

[JedJackson]

My chickens have been roosting in trees for almost three years now, with zero tree fatalities. The first year I didn't have a dog and racoons or possums would come attack them in the night occasionally and the chickens would simply fly away. Then I would come outside and dispatch the predator

I think the type of tree they use makes all the difference. Here they roost mostly in yaupon holly, which forms an under-canopy about 10-15 feet, which is itself under other larger trees. There's hawks, owls and eagles here but when the brush gets thick enough (like an actual jungle) then birds of prey don't even make the attempt

Foxes in the morning are a non-issue also. They're not fast or sneaky enough to catch anything that isn't a dysgenic production breed. I've even seen a game hen attack and punk out a fox before

If people had tough chickens and trusted their instincts I believe that they would be pleasantly surprised for the most part. Game chickens aren't too different from junglefowl, which have survived for millions of years in quite formidable jungles

I've personally watched birds of prey walk into thick brambles and pull chickens out both at night and in the daytime. Experiences will vary, depending mostly on the availability of prey and habitat. But if predators are hungry enough, they will stop at nothing.

From my experience, roosting chickens are sluggish and totally disoriented if attacked in the middle of the night. I've never had any just fly away at night time. If there is still some light out and they haven't yet settled, then yes, they might fly up higher in the tree. But in the dead of night, probably not.

I never dealt with foxes when I free ranged, but coyotes learn in time exactly when chickens fly down, and then they are often easy pickings. They also know when nearby humans first come out in the morning, and they strike before then,, usually.

My experience and belief is that if you're going to free range, you can expect some losses, no matter what breed you keep. That's just nature. When I did it years ago I never lost all the chickens, but had I not confined broodies with their chicks and raised them up before letting them out I probably would have. Chicks are especially vulnerable to just about any size of predator.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

My experience and belief is that if you're going to free range, you can expect some losses, no matter what breed you keep. That's just nature. When I did it years ago I never lost all the chickens, but had I not confined broodies with their chicks and raised them up before letting them out I probably would have. Chicks are especially vulnerable to just about any size of predator.

What breeds did you attempt free-ranging with? My universal experience is that if a chicken detects a predator in the dark they'll fly off into the night shrieking like a banshee, and the chicks scatter silently

One time I had an AGF/RJF hybrid go broody in a terrible location beyond the borders of my land in a pile of sticks. My family watched her for three weeks and then on the night her eggs began to hatch she was hit by a weasel. We figured that all of her babies were doomed, but the very next morning she was walking around with 9 chicks. Evidently she went back at some point in the night and collected them all

The nesting success rate for wild RJF in Asia is 32%. That's about the same for the feral broodies here that brood far from home. However most hens are intelligent enough to nest near my house in the artificial nests I've made where predators are a non-issue

 

[JedJackson]

What breeds did you attempt free-ranging with? My universal experience is that if a chicken detects a predator in the dark they'll fly off into the night shrieking like a banshee, and the chicks scatter silently

One time I had an AGF/RJF hybrid go broody in a terrible location beyond the borders of my land in a pile of sticks. My family watched her for three weeks and then on the night her eggs began to hatch she was hit by a weasel. We figured that all of her babies were doomed, but the very next morning she was walking around with 9 chicks. Evidently she went back at some point in the night and collected them all

The nesting success rate for wild RJF in Asia is 32%. That's about the same for the feral broodies here that brood far from home. However most hens are intelligent enough to nest near my house in the artificial nests I've made where predators are a non-issue

I had American games, Sebrights, OE Games, Leghorns, Buttercups, Phoenix and a lot of Game/Phoenix mixes free ranging. I had Polish and Silkies too, but no free ranging for them.

Coyotes have a terrific sense of smell. They can locate a broody hen at her nest very easily at night. If they manage to surprise one, that hen is gone, day or night.

This was in Southern California. The free rangers all went high up in old Eucalyptus trees, but always in the midst of lots of foliage, not out at the ends of branches, exposed. Most of mine were great flyers. I had a coop for eggs and shelter during rainstorms. Since it was a dry climate, they did not much like rain. Predators abounded there, even though it was the suburbs, because the hills above were undeveloped and lots of different species had decent habitat. We also had roadrunners about, and they are way better at escaping predators of all kinds than any chicken.

You can pick normally flighty chickens right off the roost when they're asleep. In trees, any predator that can get to them has a good shot at taking them. They do not see well in the dark, nor do they usually react quickly to potential danger. I suppose for long feral flocks it may be different, but even wild red jungle fowl are vulnerable and in their native habitat depend on leaning bamboo shoots for roosting, shoots that can support them but are too flimsy for predators to climb.

But, like I said, conditions vary. I am not saying it can't work, but I definitely believe losses are inevitable when free ranging if you have predators in your area. Now, in places like Hawaii, where predators are few and far between, chickens have multiplied like crazy and live pretty much wild. And it can happen in special environments elsewhere too, like the LA freeway flock that lived for years on their own. But where predators are common, you'd have to be very lucky not to get some losses. Which may be perfectly acceptable for some people, and that is fine, too.