Chicken keeping without coops or with mutiple coops

[Chelsa'sChicks]

Love it. They don't fly to the rafters? I wouldn't be talked into walking INTO the barn at Night, But...Sounds Great.. This year is a mix of Breeds. 4 I bought as adults, early this year. 14 as chicks. The Free Roosters turned out to be Minis, Annoyed with That and a free bird; she was being ornery with other 2 in 3 hen coop. Mix bag of (Chicks)Tricks? Unless someone is GOOD at hiding, Many a time. I've lost a couple...

The barn is a pole barn so the rafters are about 30-35ft up. I have 1 light weight chicken be able to fly up using the truck or manure spreader to jump off of, but other then that my heavy bottom birds have to use the latter lol. I have no worries about them either. They go up and actually go in towards the middle of the barn and sleep on the rafters. Nothing can get them there. A raccoon could if he was ridiculously hungry, but nothing has ever even attempted to climb the narrow rafters plus the height.

I love it too honestly. I go in every night with a flashlight and do a head count. Every morning they help themselves to forage outside until I show up with breakfast shortly after.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

It sounds Ideal. How big is the barn?
I don't whistle for the chickens, but they do come when I call them, even during the day.
Shame about the fox problem.

Its a pole barn 60x80 so they have plenty of space. I am going to allow them to free range with high supervision (me + gun) on my days off so they can free range some still. The fox don't seem to care enough (for now at least) to break into or get over the fence.. I see them out there too just by the fence with the roosters crowing as loudly as possible basically putting them in a spot.. but the fox never tries to get in. Free ranging 100% I know the fox will try because that's what happened before, but I'll be on stand by
(PS it is perfectly legal where I live to be "on stand by" and protect my livestock and crops if they are being eaten.)

They are great chickens too. They come running when I whistle, they never cause problems, they co-habitat perfectly with each other and all my other animals. Its just a shame. Before the fox I actually had a chicken that was so old she died her favorite sunny spot in the yard from just being old (about 10 years old). That is the perfect chicken life to me.

 

[BullMtnFords]

In general I agree with you.
Chickens are extraordinarily adaptable. If a group of chickens suddenly appeared on your property then a completely hands off approach would seem reasonable to me.
That isn’t what happens though. People ‘get’ chickens and my view is as soon as you ‘get’ chickens you are then responsible for their welfare. The ‘fuss’ is over what constitutes neglect and what constitutes care.
There are contributors and no doubt readers of this thread, who consider free range chicken keeping to be neglect. Some would probably change their mind if they came and spent a couple of weeks here with me.
Given the predator losses you state and the facilities you provide, and assuming you provide health care for a sick chicken, I think the conditions you describe are fine; others won’t.
People just love trying to manage things…..

DON'T we KNOW that!! IMHO the term would be to CONTROL things, no matter their Bis or not!!

Its a pole barn 60x80 so they have plenty of space. I am going to allow them to free range with high supervision (me + gun) on my days off so they can free range some still. The fox don't seem to care enough (for now at least) to break into or get over the fence.. I see them out there too just by the fence with the roosters crowing as loudly as possible basically putting them in a spot.. but the fox never tries to get in. Free ranging 100% I know the fox will try because that's what happened before, but I'll be on stand by
(PS it is perfectly legal where I live to be "on stand by" and protect my livestock and crops if they are being eaten.)

They are great chickens too. They come running when I whistle, they never cause problems, they co-habitat perfectly with each other and all my other animals. Its just a shame. Before the fox I actually had a chicken that was so old she died her favorite sunny spot in the yard from just being old (about 10 years old). That is the perfect chicken life to me.

IT SOUNDS GREAT to me! I'm alone, too lazy to build much. There is a NOT very secure hen house that was built, for them. It's Not easy to SEE from the house. Why I haven't trained them to use it..
I've been living a Let go and let God, & Live and let live life the last few years. Think I have lost a couple since March. Not all of them roost where I can find them, at night, so Knowing FOR Sure, how many I have is questionable. Once it was 8, another it was 13 Young hens pullets, 3 Small Bantam Roosters, 5 adults. That's Usually the count when I bring out a hard boiled egg, pc of cheese, a treat, of some sorts. *NEVER thought I would EVER Share CHEESE with my chickens!!*LOL

 

[Jpiggle1]

I’m interested in any experiences that people have had keeping chickens without a coop.
There are a number of farms and smallholdings locally here in Catalonia, Spain that have been keeping chickens for generations without purpose built coops.
4 kilometres down the mountain where i live there are 9 chickens who roost up a tree at night.
Across the valley there are a number of farms where the chickens roost in open barns, up trees, and in spare rooms in the house.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have mixed breeds living in such conditions
I realise that many people will consider keeping chickens in this manner irresponsible but chickens are kept in similar conditions all over the world and have been for generations.
The chicken lays all those eggs because in ‘natural’ conditions few chicks survive.
I also realise that many breeds now can’t get up a tree because of human interference by target breeding for particular characteristics; heavy meat breeds and some dual purpose breeds for examples.

I’m using a multiple coop system at the moment; a coop per tribe, but the chickens don’t always come home and the Bantams in particular go up the trees every night. This isn’t a problem, they come down when I call them (mostly) and go into their coop but it does demonstrate that the Bantams and the cross breeds still have the instinct to sleep in the trees.

It seems to me that a lot of ‘old knowledge’ based on generations of experience and observation has been forgotten as the chicken became product and egg and meat production became more important than the long term welfare of the chicken.

There are a few pieces of old knowledge that I have picked up as I gathered information for my book that reading some of the problems on this forum might be worth bearing in mind.

1) Don’t mix breeds
2) One cock for every 3 to 5 hens
3) Provide lots of cover, bushes, trees, plants even man made shelters
4) Chickens fight but fights in the family or tribe tend not to be serious while fights between cocks and hens from other tribes often are.

Do your separate flocks mingle during the day? Are they all free range?

 

[Peppercorngal]

My nearest neighbor's experience with keeping chickens without a coop didn't work well. He wanted eggs and he wanted a rooster in hopes a hen would go broody and provide more chickens! He had an open shed where he wanted them to lay and sleep at night. He provided no roosts, no nesting boxes. The chickens were free to range anywhere on his 22 acres at anytime. When I came up the scene, he didn't know if they were laying, he never found any eggs. I went over for days on end and followed the hens and checked the bushes, but found no nests, no eggs. Oh, he also didn't feed them. They were constantly foraging, scratching and trying to find food for themselves. I never saw them simply taking a dirt bath or relaxing. I bought them from him. I kept them in a separate run with it's own coop for the first week. After that they would free range during the day with my old flock. They were fed 16% layer pellets and started using the nest boxes and laying immediately. They also started to use the roosts outside and in. They are very happy chickens now, they like the feeling of shelter in their run and coop and return to it every evening. I have seen no fighting between them and my other "flock". That's my story.

 

[centrarchid]

My nearest neighbor's experience with keeping chickens without a coop didn't work well. He wanted eggs and he wanted a rooster in hopes a hen would go broody and provide more chickens! He had an open shed where he wanted them to lay and sleep at night. He provided no roosts, no nesting boxes. The chickens were free to range anywhere on his 22 acres at anytime. When I came up the scene, he didn't know if they were laying, he never found any eggs. I went over for days on end and followed the hens and checked the bushes, but found no nests, no eggs. Oh, he also didn't feed them. They were constantly foraging, scratching and trying to find food for themselves. I never saw them simply taking a dirt bath or relaxing. I bought them from him. I kept them in a separate run with it's own coop for the first week. After that they would free range during the day with my old flock. They were fed 16% layer pellets and started using the nest boxes and laying immediately. They also started to use the roosts outside and in. They are very happy chickens now, they like the feeling of shelter in their run and coop and return to it every evening. I have seen no fighting between them and my other "flock". That's my story.

I will offer a counter example. All of my game (fighting chickens) are derived from a flock that went feral / dunghill for about 12 years. The roosted in a row of White Pines bordering properties with a feed mill and a row crop field. Area they ranged varied according to season, year, number of birds, and quality of forage. The area was at least 20 acres. Number of birds never dipped below 10 individuals and at times approached 60. They suffered periodic losses to depredation and emigration to neighboring woodlot and even a park. All replacements were from survivors breeding on site without management. Hens have to have good forage to set a clutch and incubate without feed.

Even now I can keep small groups out to get all forage they need for reproduction and they still have time to loaf.

If your landscape offers to little nutrition, then do not free-range. If you have not seen fighting, then not enough time has been invested in making observations.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have done as you describe over many years at multiple locations at same time. Breed was only one that is tops in ability to evade predators. For system to work, you need to be able to exclude the majority of predators most of the time. System works better when larger livestock also present.

In the past I have referred to cow dung as a chickens' breakfast of champions and it is that.

Many times I have watched a brooding hen drag a clutch of fuzzy chicks around a cow pasture following one cow and then another. However the only time that the mother hen would get excited is when a cow stopped, bowed up, and raised her fly swatter in preparation to defecate. The moment the cow bowed up or lifted her fly swatter the hen started calling her chicks like there was no tomorrow. I guess you can call cow manure pre fermented baby chicken feed. BTW, this is a good reason NOT to keep feather footed chicken breeds.

Game hens (as centrarchid can profess) is one of the best to keep if you want free range chickens. I have seen my hens come-a-running and fly over 40 foot tall trees when I went out with a feed bucket and started calling them. Except for the hens who spend a little time in my scratch and fly pens for the purpose of moral, all my hens sleep or slept in trees. I on the other hand have to sleep with one ear open and my hand on a loaded Winchester model 12.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My grandfather never had a coup, he had several old open sheds that the chickens would lay in.... they laid eggs everywhere. They roosted wherever and free ranged 24/7. He had so many chickens I would wonder if he would have even noticed if he lost one to a predator. I imagine he would be amused at my set up and all the protective measures that I have in place.

My Maternal Granny and Gramps did the same as your grandfather and when I got my first game chickens I too went full on free range, at least for the hens and young stuff. I had brood pens that were used for breeding underwire and walks or runs that I kept some of my surplus hens in for the benefit of my roosters' moral. As the notion hit me I swapped out the hens in the scratch and fly pens for hens that were living free range. I also had an 8 foot fence around the whole 3 acre chicken yard, two serious varmint dogs and some goats, sheep, horses, and cows to keep down the vegetation and to make it harder for chicken killing vermin to slip up and lie in wait for a chicken dinner. Whatever anyone thinks, to keep free range chickens you have got to manage and cull the vermin that preys on chickens.

The down side to all of this is that game hens will do well to lay 5 or 6 dozen eggs per year, maybe a few more if you keep them from sitting. However a breed like a Leghorn or some other Mediterranean egg producing breed will lay up to or 300 or more eggs per year and these girls are almost as hard for a varmint to catch as a game hen is.

I have to admit that Leghorns are not fluffy fools or fox vittles like some other hens are. Leghorns don't produce eggs that look like Russian Faberge eggs but Leghorn eggs taste just as good as any eggs on the planet and a Leghorn will forage better than any two of the fluffy butted hens.

 

[Shadrach]

Do your separate flocks mingle during the day? Are they all free range?

They don't really mingle. Sometimes they will occupy the same space if it's a reasonably large area, when it rains,or to avoid a predator for examples. Otherwise, they tend to avoid each other; it reduces the chances of conflict.
Yes,they are all free range in the day.

 

[Jpiggle1]

Well I live in a suburb. One of my girls didn’t coop last night, and my hubby and I were called out of bed in the middle of the night with her screaming in the cedar tree as a coon was running on the fence. Needless to say I won’t let that happen again ... Envious of your ability to leave them free to decide