Does it not balance out?

[Wiccedbug22]

The coop is impenetrable, and far larger then what they require. I put alot of time into it. Once they are in they are safe. An auto door opens in the light hours of morning and then they go out into a 15×15 10 ft high fenced area with a gate, Once the gate opens they have free roam to endless space if they so choose but they don't go that far. They are Ameriucana and Silkie. Normally load the feeders with a sunflower seed, layer pellet mix. Sun seeds are 18$ a bag and pellets aren't cheap ether. I had about 60 then the worst predator you could get, a bobcat, hit the place hard because they hunt in the day as well as night, when they were out , and now I'm down to 20. Bobcat is gone but damage is done.

 

[Wiccedbug22]

And I'm pretty sure the parasite problem is non existent here. They race very fast to the feed area and are not at all sickly. Simply lazy is more like it. If there is no available free easy food from the feeder on the ground they will race back to me in food expectancy rather then even scratch around the spot to look. Its akin to a cat having food on the ground and not eating it unless you put it into a bowl to make it simple.

 

[LaFleche]

I am sorry for your losses.

Sending Silkies out to free range in a forest area is just kind of feeding the wildlife, as Silkies have no real feathers which could help them to fly up on a tree branch for safety. In addition they are often handicapped due to their overgrown tufts and muffs adn will not be able to see a predator coming.

 

[LaFleche]

Silkies only lay every so often as they will be mostly broody after a few eggs. So Silkies are not the right breed if you expect eggs or active birds.

They are best kept in a secure and covered run as their feet are heavily feathered and have five toes which will hinder them to forage or run properly.

 

[LaFleche]

Normally load the feeders with a sunflower seed, layer pellet mix.

Layer pellets should be available at all times in the coop. Additional feeder spreading sunflower seeds are not necessary as sunflower seeds may fatten them up and they will lay even less.

Corn and sunflower seeds are a good addition to the normal pellet feed, but only in very cold winters, best fed in the evening.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

How much feed comes out of the auto feeder a day?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree with all the other comments. I also feel that the type of feeder you are using is a significant part of your losses. Slinging good feed randomly on the ground will waste a lot. They need a proper feeder so it isn't wasted on the ground.
Many people promote feeding sunflower seed but it is not a great idea. It is too high in fiber and fat. Even though it has a fair amount of protein, that is mostly used up digesting all that fiber. Fiber for chickens should be about 5%. Black oil sunflower seeds are 20-23%.
If you had more productive breeds than silkies, better feeders, focus on just chicken feed rather than other foodstuffs, your feed input to egg output will improve dramatically.

Speaking of silkie susceptibility to predation, I know a silkie breeder who calls them 'hawk bites'. Their impaired vision makes them vulnerable to all predators but especially the aerial type. Add to that their poor quantity of tiny eggs produced, raising them for egg production is a sure losing proposition.
IMO, the only way to make money on silkies is if you have a large oriental community nearby that tend to be the customers for black skinned chickens. We have a market here that sells silkie broilers for almost 10 dollars.

While silkies may produce about 90 tiny eggs on average per year, there are a lot of other breeds that produce between 180 and 300 eggs a year.

IMHO, your choice is between eye candy and something closer to a break even enterprise.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Wiccedbug22.
Welcome to BYC.
If your only goal is to get eggs cheaper than you can buy them then my advice is to give up chicken keeping. It can be done but you need so many factors to be right.
You don't mention which breeds you have. This makes an enormous difference to how well they will fare as free rangers.
While EggSighted4Life is about right with regard to acerage per bird, what's in that acrerage is equally important.
Where you are in the world is also important because climate has a big impact.
The provenance of your chickens has a major impact. There is a world of difference between a Leghorn bred from a semi feral Italian flock and one you might buy from a hatchery.
How your flock is set up is important. Having at least one rooster, preferably more if your flock is over say three or four hens makes a difference.
The type and number of predators makes a massive difference.

I keep a number of tribes and it's taken almost a decade of adjustment, the occasional nervous breakdown, grave digging, learning about sicknesses and injuries, fetching them out of the trees at night, observation, experimentation, nest hunting: the list goes on.
I do this in part because it's my job , but mostly because I love chickens. That is probably the best place to start; you need to want to keep chickens for the sake of keeping chickens. Eggs, meat, company, entertainment, are all bonuses.

I have three tribes currently, I've had five in the past, all free ranging from dawn to dusk. I have twenty two chickens currently, six of which are roosters. They have a coop per tribe, plus sick bays/maternity units which if I'm lucky most will use. The climate here is temperate and ground predators minimal. The forage is fair most of the year ranging from crop fields, woodland, a couple of compost heaps, not to mention donkey middens and sheep droppings, all year round fruit fall and a wide variety of vegetation. I still feed them commercial feed three times a day.
I believe after ten years about half of them could survive on forage alone and be quite happy living in the trees. It's taken from three to five generations for them to progress from standard backyard type chickens with good genetics to confident, semi feral hooligans.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Hello Wiccedbug22.
Welcome to BYC.
If your only goal is to get eggs cheaper than you can buy them then my advice is to give up chicken keeping. It can be done but you need so many factors to be right.
You don't mention which breeds you have. This makes an enormous difference to how well they will fare as free rangers.
...

They said they have Ameraucanas and Silkies.

 

[Shadrach]

They said they have Ameraucanas and Silkies.

Thanks. I missed that. Not ideal free rangers.