Agreeing with whats been said so far, though the issues about free ranging depend on where you are and your situation. With that much land, I can't think you will need to worry, my hens free range and rarely if ever leave our yard. As said, as long as no one feeds them from the other side of the fence, and they have lots of area including shrubbery and trees to offer cover, it is most likely theyll stick around.
The suggestion about two year old hens is a good one, as well as at least three hens, but five or so is better IMO because if one IS lost to predation or anything else, the others will have some sort of intact group. Illness is always possible, but not nearly as common as it might seem based on what you read here! The sheer numbers of members here means that out of thousands of members posting, there will be plenty of illness topics.
Depending on how large your barn is, horses or ponies often like chickens, and 3-5 chickens take very little room. I had a hen who always layed her egg on my horses hay ration, and he nibbled the hay from around where she was setting. Goofy boy never to my knowledge broke the egg!
As to cold, choose a breed with small combs, pea combs or rose combs etc, or at least small single combs for best results such as Chantacler, Buckeyes, Wyandotte, Dominique, Faverolles to name a few. These breeds as well as others I didn't name, were bred in large part to handle cold very well. Of course, Rhode Island Reds, (RIR) or New Hampshire Reds (NHR) were also bred for cold hardiness but since their combs tend to be larger, they can be subject to frostbite. Im including a link to Hendersons Chook Chart. Any of the breeds with a snowflake in the egg column are a good choice. On the chart, it primarily means they continue to lay decently in the winter, but this is really a true sign of other cold hardiness too! http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html#c
You can build a sort of hood or enclosure around a roost for them which will contain their body warmth at night in the winter even in a large building. They wont much need it during the day, chickens really dont mind the cold as long as they have shelter from the wind and rain/snow. Using a 2x4 for their roost with the wider side up will allow them to roost with their feathers covering their feet very well, so no frostbite there!
Chooks are a blast! Go for it!
The suggestion about two year old hens is a good one, as well as at least three hens, but five or so is better IMO because if one IS lost to predation or anything else, the others will have some sort of intact group. Illness is always possible, but not nearly as common as it might seem based on what you read here! The sheer numbers of members here means that out of thousands of members posting, there will be plenty of illness topics.
Depending on how large your barn is, horses or ponies often like chickens, and 3-5 chickens take very little room. I had a hen who always layed her egg on my horses hay ration, and he nibbled the hay from around where she was setting. Goofy boy never to my knowledge broke the egg!
As to cold, choose a breed with small combs, pea combs or rose combs etc, or at least small single combs for best results such as Chantacler, Buckeyes, Wyandotte, Dominique, Faverolles to name a few. These breeds as well as others I didn't name, were bred in large part to handle cold very well. Of course, Rhode Island Reds, (RIR) or New Hampshire Reds (NHR) were also bred for cold hardiness but since their combs tend to be larger, they can be subject to frostbite. Im including a link to Hendersons Chook Chart. Any of the breeds with a snowflake in the egg column are a good choice. On the chart, it primarily means they continue to lay decently in the winter, but this is really a true sign of other cold hardiness too! http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html#c
You can build a sort of hood or enclosure around a roost for them which will contain their body warmth at night in the winter even in a large building. They wont much need it during the day, chickens really dont mind the cold as long as they have shelter from the wind and rain/snow. Using a 2x4 for their roost with the wider side up will allow them to roost with their feathers covering their feet very well, so no frostbite there!
Chooks are a blast! Go for it!
