Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[mississippifarmboy]

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I agree that foraging isn't going to make a huge difference, and in some parts of the country, or in pen raised birds it might make no difference at all. Here in the south I can see a fair amount of difference in both the amount of feed ate when free-ranging and also between the various breeds. Also we butcher from a few weeks old onward as we need, to either cull or we just need the meat. We almost never have chicken in the freezer, we just catch them as we need them. If the power goes out we don't run the risk of loosing all the meat that way.

I use mostly feeders that hold between 7 and 10 pounds of feed and top them off every day. In the winter like now and early spring when most of our chickens are in pens for breeding, I feed roughly a feed pail of feed per day per pen. In the summer and fall I only feed the same amount about every three days. They always have feed in the feeders, so I know it has to be foraging that is making up more of their diet during these times.

The breeds are lots different too. The Orpingtons, Faverolles, Turkens, Yokahamas, the mixed breeds and some others stay within 50 feet of the coop and in the summer eat almost as much as in the winter. The Orloffs, Doms, games, guineas and a few others range for long distances (up to a 1/8 mile) and eat very little feed during the summer and fall. All chickens forage, but I've learned, in our area and situation, that some are much better at it than others.

We use no heat or light here, just whatever nature supplies. Egg production here starts to pick up in mid to late January and peaks in April or May when we get around 80-85% production. It then slowly drops by a few eggs a day all summer and really slacks off around mid October. During the winter we only get enough to get by. Today, we have 59 hens on the farm and I gathered 6 eggs. That's around 10% I think?

I know very few people have the area or desire to free-range the way we do here, but in our unique situation free ranging does significantly lower our feed bill during part of the year. The area they range in is lawn, pasture, overgrown fields, mixed woods, bottom land with a large creek flowing through it, gardens and field row crops.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

I have noticed that mine are eating more feed since the cold has set in. Most of the green is gone, so they are getting what ever scraps I toss out to them, alfalfa & their feed.

Took 18 of my 1 week old eggs to my cousin's house for Christmas Eve, 2 rows of beige & light brown & 1 row of blue & green. Even with the eggs being just over a week old, they still did not peal well when we did them for hard boiled eggs. They were surprised how orangy the yolk was, and they wanted to know how I got green & blue eggs. Informed them of my EE mutts, and that they are the only hens I know of that do lay that color egg.
My girls got a nice bag of left overs from Christmas Eve dinner, today they got, corn, mashed taters, stuffing & bread. Tomorrow they will get a zippy bag of corn & rolls, and then Tues. or Wed. the last container of stuffing, it was the left over gizzard stuffing & did not go over well at the dinner.

Hope Santa was good to everyone, now on to New Year's

 

[centrarchid]

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Foraging for some of my flocks makes a difference. My free range flocks with no restrictions on their movements vary greatly in respect to how far they get out to look for eats. The games, red jungle fowl and their hybrids get out there and could probably get all they need for maintenance and reproduction so long as snow or extreme cold does hinder access to forage. They contrast greatly with my free-ranging dominique flocks where the latter does not get as far from feeders. Real difference I can measure as a function of their foraging is the appearance of their feces. The games and red jungle fowl have a lot more fiber in their poo left below roost. The dominiques clearly eat some plant materials but their feces shows much less evidence for it. Some plants are very important nutrient sources and in my opinion are more important than animal fare once birds are more than half grown. As the forage quailty collapse during winter or during drought, two responses are evident. The first is with the more wild-like birds where they expand their foraging range but there are limits and if they have to go too far, they will roost closer to a quality food source. The second is with the dominiques where they simply start hitting feeders harder and consume more feed.


Many if not most free-ranging flocks are at best like my dominiques. On top of that is that few people seem to consider forage quality varies greatly and just because birds are eating something does not mean they are eating well. In many instances they are only keeping their feet clean. Forage quality can be managed within limits but most folks with flocks have too many birds relative to available forage and thus do not get benefits local productivity can provide.

 

[southerndesert]

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Bring your water to a boil

Add eggs with a spoon being careful not to crack

Boil desired time (we do 15 min)

Add cool water to pan until all hot water gone and let sit till water is warm from eggs

Drain and fill with ice water and let sit till eggs are cold

Put then in fridge for a couple hours and they will then peel like a dream....

 

[galanie]

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This is something I always wonder about when I read a thread titled something like Which Breeds Forage Well? - They all forage well. I don't really understand the question unless they mean they want a breed that can really rough it and make do totally on their own well. In which case, I'd hope they didn't get any at all.

 

[centrarchid]

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Differences in foraging ability are real and sometimes very large. If keep your birds in essentially what is a feed-lot setting which is where most people seem to be then differences not important. If you use incomplete rations / diets and have adequate amounts of quality pasture or areas suitable for foraging like I strive for, then you can get by with a lot less feed per pound of meat or egg produced.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had different birds forage differently, not necessarily separated by breed. I have had some of the same breed raised together where some foraged pretty well and others acted like meaties, always hanging around the feed bucket. Guess which ones were first introduced to Mr. Crock Pot and which ones were invited to lay hatching eggs.

If they are raised by a broody, especially if she is allowed to free range, they tend to forage better than brooder raised chicks. I have not really noticed it so much by breed, but I only have dual purpose breeds. It's quite possible the smaller breeds that don't require as much nutrition to maintain their body weight can do better foraging instead of depending on a fairly high nutrition, easy meal.

Don't forget some obvious differences. Silkies can't fly. Polish can't see. Good foraging is not just about finding food but about surviving while doing it.

 

[galanie]

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Differences in foraging ability are real and sometimes very large. If keep your birds in essentially what is a feed-lot setting which is where most people seem to be then differences not important. If you use incomplete rations / diets and have adequate amounts of quality pasture or areas suitable for foraging like I strive for, then you can get by with a lot less feed per pound of meat or egg produced.

Put that way, I know exactly what you'd mean if you asked which breeds foraged best. Maybe a guideline for someone that might ask the question in the future? State the intent first?

Reason I said what I did, my Orps are "not known to be good foragers" from what I've seen here often yet mine sure seem to do well and yes do eat something like half the feed when they can forage somewhere other than a small enclosure. So between that and other answers I've seen, it makes it seem like most breeds really are pretty equal at foraging. I know a few aren't, but I don't know which breeds those might be.

 

[speckledhen]

If they are raised by a broody, especially if she is allowed to free range, they tend to forage better than brooder raised chicks.

This is very true. Broodies give their chicks quite an education.

I have seen general breed differences, though there are exceptions within those. The BBS Orps stay right around the pen and coop, rarely venture further than the nearby garden and then go right back home. I never have to look for them-they put themselves back in the pen. The Ameraucanas may walk around more than the BBS Orps, but they don't seem to actually be scratching and searching as much as some others do. The BRs, RIRs (which I no longer have, sadly) and Delawares go all over the place. In fact, the Delawares, especially, go from one end of the place to the other. I "lose" my Del rooster and have to call him back when he's let out to roam the place with his girls. He'll go far into the woods all the way to the perimeter fence or down the driveway to the gate, unlike other roosters I've had. They actively dig and search for stuff more, the Dels and the BRs. The mixed breeds also seem to be very busy foragers-my mixed breeds are mostly BR crosses (BR x Ameraucana) and one EE who does roam with the busy foragers. That's just what I've observed here over the past few years.​

 

[flagirl]

Newbie here, i've researched on the feeding thread, but am confused, so i need ot advice. i have quite a bit of whole wheat berries from when my grain mill was working. is it ok to just occasionally throw out the berries? seems if they free ranged in fields where wheat was grown, they would have eaten it whole-not sprouted cracked etc. i am looking for simplicity here.