Chickens in nature

[Cloverfluff]

I'm making this thread to show people that chickens can do fine in more natural settings. My chickens are completely organic, live outside 24/7 and sleep in trees. They spend most of their time running around the forest and swamp, existing around countless different types of wild animals

I don't think the gamefowl need me at all, but the production chickens do. Keeping a semi-feral flock is a balancing act of these two genepools- survivors and producers. Currently I'm aiming for 3/4th dual-purpose, 1/4th gamefowl (dunghill) mutts that are camoflaged with the environment. I believe this is the optimal balance for my set-up to keep food on the table

Here's an assortment of pictures since I began keeping chickens, going roughly from old to new. It's been a long journey and I've learned much over the years:
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Credit to my wife for taking most of the good pictures here. Also my LGD deserves credit for making this all much easier. I did this for a year and a half without a dog, which was much more stressful
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I'll post more in the future

I like the cubalaya mutt. She's pretty.

 

[Cloverfluff]

Red Sex Link running around
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Mine hate the snow, they will just wander around the covered run when the snow is down.

 

[McChooky]

My older chickens have to be chased in the coop when it rains but the other flock hates getting wet.Neither of them like snow.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My older chickens have to be chased in the coop when it rains but the other flock hates getting wet.Neither of them like snow.

it has to be pouring before mine head back in the run.

You’ve heard the phrase “Madder than a wet hen”? Around here it’s “Madder than a wet hen-owner”!

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Ameraucana x Red Junglefowl hen (an Easter Egger I suppose) with 6 chicks. She's coming up on 3 years old and just started going broody recently. Perfect hen to lay while young and start raising offspring when egg production declines

 

[McChooky]

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Ameraucana x Red Junglefowl hen (an Easter Egger I suppose) with 6 chicks. She's coming up on 3 years old and just started going broody recently. Perfect hen to lay while young and start raising offspring when egg production declines

You can call her whatever you want she's adorable!

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

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Ameraucana x Red Junglefowl hen (an Easter Egger I suppose) with 6 chicks. She's coming up on 3 years old and just started going broody recently. Perfect hen to lay while young and start raising offspring when egg production declines

I don't see many pictures of junglefowl crosses, and most of the ones I have seen are crossed to some sort of game (which are pretty close to junglefowl anyway) so it's super interesting to see more "domestic" breeds crossed back to RJF. If you happen to have any pictures of her/any birds like her, those would be really cool to see!

Sidenote, if you don't mind my asking, where do you get your RJF stock? I've heard about horribly inbred junglefowl that get sick and die at any opportunity, but yours seem to do really well. My apologies if you've already answered this somewhere

 

[McChooky]

Makes me want some Jungle fowl mixes

 

[Perris]

I don't see many pictures of junglefowl crosses, and most of the ones I have seen are crossed to some sort of game (which are pretty close to junglefowl anyway) so it's super interesting to see more "domestic" breeds crossed back to RJF. If you happen to have any pictures of her/any birds like her, those would be really cool to see!

Sidenote, if you don't mind my asking, where do you get your RJF stock? I've heard about horribly inbred junglefowl that get sick and die at any opportunity, but yours seem to do really well. My apologies if you've already answered this somewhere

you might find this useful / interesting
Origin of the domestic chicken from modern biological and zooarchaeological approaches, Masaki Eda, 2021, open access
https://academic.oup.com/af/article/11/3/52/6306459

 

[McChooky]

I don't see many pictures of junglefowl crosses, and most of the ones I have seen are crossed to some sort of game (which are pretty close to junglefowl anyway) so it's super interesting to see more "domestic" breeds crossed back to RJF. If you happen to have any pictures of her/any birds like her, those would be really cool to see!

Sidenote, if you don't mind my asking, where do you get your RJF stock? I've heard about horribly inbred junglefowl that get sick and die at any opportunity, but yours seem to do really well. My apologies if you've already answered this somewhere

Florida Bullfrog has jungle fowl crosses