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

[Dead Rabbit]

actually my friend Cass did just that. She will have some fantastic birds when they grow up.

perhaps. ive seen great fowl screwed up by those that didnt carry on the same methods. its a crap shoot when your fowl are spread around.

 

[Cass]

actually my friend Cass did just that. She will have some fantastic birds when they grow up.

Yup I will.....only thing I'm going to do differently than Stonykill, is put out fresh water for them. My landscaping is similiar to their "home", but I don't have any natural sources of water for them to tap into, except a snake and turtle infested pond and I prefer they NOT go there because of the risk of death from the current inhabitants of the pond....so they can roost where they choose, eat what they choose (including the layer feed out for the layer flock) and drink the water I am going to provide them. Hopefully they will lay their eggs where I can find them, cuz I am a little old for a daily easter egg hunt.

 

[stonykill]

Yup I will.....only thing I'm going to do differently than Stonykill, is put out fresh water for them. My landscaping is similiar to their "home", but I don't have any natural sources of water for them to tap into, except a snake and turtle infested pond and I prefer they NOT go there because of the risk of death from the current inhabitants of the pond....so they can roost where they choose, eat what they choose (including the layer feed out for the layer flock) and drink the water I am going to provide them. Hopefully they will lay their eggs where I can find them, cuz I am a little old for a daily easter egg hunt.

look for a rooster standing guard. They most always stand near a hen laying. At least my boys do

 

[Cass]

look for a rooster standing guard. They most always stand near a hen laying. At least my boys do

That'll work if they lay after 4 pm....before that ? Easter Egg hunt.

 

[stonykill]

That'll work if they lay after 4 pm....before that ? Easter Egg hunt.

lol, yup it will be

 

[Gypsi]

Obviously the recent posters don't have coyotes running up their street at night. My birds free range is limited to a privacy fenced back yard. They and the LGD take turns in the yard, the fence is too high for the coyotes, and skunks and coons don't think much of my dogs and are never sure who is out. The birds are locked up at night. Bottom lock is coon proof.

Flocksalot - I like your broody solution. Now I have a roo and he is mating with his 3 sibling hens. No one has gone broody, I'm just putting eggs in the refrigerator. Have 15 black australorp chicks on the way in early May, think I'm going to end up giving away or culling my roo, I don't really want to get deeply into guessing which eggs might be fertile, I just don't have time.

 

[Beekissed]

I've got a similar problem now...down to one dog and my best one is gone now. She wouldn't allow any other dogs in the yard but the one I have left is a submissive and, though he would deter coyotes and the rest, his weakness is a friendliness to stray dogs. Also am in a place now that has no perimeter cattle fencing as a second safeguard.

If I had another boss dog I'd free range without a care but those are hard to find and I'm getting to a point in my life when I don't want the burden of any more long term animals that can't be eaten.

I went with electric net fencing and the one dog. Not my ideal free range setting but it will have to do.

 

[ldutch123]

I would love to have a water source in the range area and had often thought of digging a small reservoir/pond for a more natural method of having their water sort of cleansed by nature.  Never got around to it and am now in a place where I could not even if I wanted...not my place.

Free range has many meanings to many people and it's hard to pin that one down...but true free range with no fences at all is hard to come by if one doesn't live where it can be achieved.  Sure would be nice, though. 

Where my chickens roam there is a half acre pond we always keep the banks mowed but my chickens wont go anywhere near the water. They have a huge water source but why wont they get close to the water. its probably delicious lol

 

[flocksalot]

Oh we got coyottes! They are just a howling, yipping and chasing something right now. They just don't seem to come around during the daylight hours. Now the fox do, but then I think Mr. Foxy is a bit of a chicken as my chickens chased him off. We see a couple of females sitting on the other side of the railroad tracks about 35 feet from any of my coops, but they haven't tried to swipe any yet. I think our presence in and around the area helps. We constantly catch skunks, possum, racoons, and large rats in our live traps that my husband promptly disposes. The other day one of our roos was just a growling, but the hens really paid no mind. I looked to see what was ole hairy Larry's problem and a hawk landed not 10 feet from us picked up a mouse and off it went. Never have they taken a chicken, and the only predator lose I have had was from a cat someone dropped off thinking we needed one. Well we do but both hubby and son are terribly allergic so we just don't want one. The cat got hungry and killed a young pullet. The only pens I use are for the young ones unless they are with momma and then they can go where ever she likes after a week or sometimes two. If I brood them then they stay in a pen until they can handle taking care of themselves, or I eat them.

I also free range my turkeys, ducks and geese. I do however pen the horses. I just don't think they would be willing to stick around as the grass is always greener you know. Well that and they are still young and dumb.

The turkeys spent more time in my house while it was being built than I did. They loved going visiting to see what was going on. We tried putting them in a fenced area because of all the heavy trucks coming and going, but they just walked it down and followed the work crews around. One of the plumbers told us that his family used to raise turkeys free range until they came home to find only 1 turkey out of 100 left. Coyotte attack and that is only about a mile and a half from us.

 

[Beekissed]

Just thought you all would get a kick out of these pics. I've got a young WR rooster integrated with my meaty chicks and he has taken over the role of mom. Keep in mind that he was roosting on his own roost just fine until I actually opened up the brooder and let the chicks out into the coop area. As promised, I said I'd post a pic of this roo chasing all these meaty chicks and taking care of them:



He just squats there all night but never actually settles down and rests comfortably...he has a few chicks under that wing. He becomes terribly upset if I disturb his "kids" in any way and will act just like a broody hen...all puffed up and making the exact same sounds. We've started doubting if he has his actual Roo Card on him because he has crossed over to the Mom side.