Best breeds for..

[S n M Poultry]

im looking for a breed of chicken that can free range but actually survive. Im thinking the flighteyer(SP?) the better. Any suggestions?

 

[onthespot]

I would say, whateve is left standing and free ranging in your neck of the woods. Most of them look like a cross between a roadrunner and a jackrabbit if you ask me, but hey, they are still standing and rearing their young. You live where there are a TON of hawks and coyotes, so I'd say the best free range bird for you would be maybe an ostrich or an emu, LOL

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I would either get a large breed because of the large roosters or a small breed that is light enough to fly away or run away.

 

[greyfields]

My Dark Cornish have a feral nature to them.

 

[Kev]

Old English Game or the birds from fighting game stock can't be beat for free range where survival is a consideration.

Flighty birds is a good general suggestion but also important is they be medium sized, such as Fayoumis or longtails. Also helpful are birds with long tails instead of short tails as the tail length roughly corresponds to wing area, the more wing area per body weight the better they are able to fly. (not talking about the long tails, more like OEG vs a Rock or Orpington).

I would not suggest bantams for your area, as we have hawks that are murder on any chicks when they are here during the fall and winter. Bantams are too small for a too long time and the hawks can pick them off, the ones around here tend to stop once the chicks reach a certain size.. which is a lot sooner with a standard size breed.

Even so.. if it's for your place, it's too open and backs up to the hills.. even the savviest OEG would regularly get hit hard by the coyotes and bobcats. My dad lives in Loma Linda, his house also backs to the same hills, there have got to be hundreds of coyotes just in that area. A good fence is a must.

 

[S n M Poultry]

So should i not get freerangers? I would get guineas but they drive me, my family, and my niegbors insane.

 

[Kev]

At my old house we were in area even more rural than yours and we had a 6' chain link perimeter.. at first we only had pit games, they did okay but from time to time a dog or coyote would get in thru the front gates and find the weak spot into the back and they even managed to kill a lot of those sometimes. Let me tell you, those pit games were HARD to catch- most of the time we only could catch them by tricking them to walk into a shed.

And then there's the matter of broody hens, those are very vulnerable if they nested somewhere in the yard unless they chose some place off ground.