Establishing Feral Chicken flock

[Ggg]

A friend of mine came up with the idea of having a flock of feral chickens. which breeds would be the most likely to go feral and how would you get them to do that. Could they survive on their own? what would be the ideal place to establish one? any thoughts, suggestions, commments?

What in the world is this person’s reason for purposefully releasing domesticated animals outside in the hopes that they survive? And if some do survive and lay eggs and hatch chicks it would become a feral colony so technically not your ’friend’s flock’. They would not ‘belong’ to this ‘person’ (and I use this term loosely because I can’t refer to him/her/it in a more fitting way lest my post be deleted. Bottom line is there’s absolutely no intelligent (or even remotely intelligent) reason to do this. And anyone here who plays into this trolling post and provides suggestions is just as much a fool as the one who came up with this dumb idea.

 

[Chick-Addict]

We have a pretty large flock of Game Hens and Game Cocks that have gone feral. They roam every bit of my 30 acres and come in once in a while to eat some feed. They can absolutely fly and actually tend to roost in the tops of some of our biggest Poplar trees. They are outstanding foragers and are excellent pest control as I’ve witnessed the roosters catch, kill and eat mice. I don’t know how many we have but a good estimate would be close to 50 but I see chicks quite frequently. So that number changes. As some are preyed upon, more are hatched and it seems like a viable population that might still be here long after I’m gone!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Ditto on the game chickens, at least roosters. Back in more rational times there was a thriving game bird industry in Oklahoma and people would put stags, young roosters, out on a walk. Basically dump a rooster at someone's house (willingly of course) and come back in six months to see if it has survived. If it had, it was healthy, had great muscle tone from flying up to roost at night, and was pretty canny. No feed needed, survival of the fittest.

Then you had yard hatch, loose hens that were surplus or poor pedigree allowed to run around and be bred by the roosters on the tie cords. They would hatch out chicks and some of them would make it to adulthood. But like the one poster already mentioned, the local predators were hunted constantly for sport or necessity, plenty had pole traps or strychnine bait birds, damn the law was the idea.

A flock of feral chickens wouldn't last long in the wild.

 

[Chickin Out]

Agree, would never work with domestic chicken breeds in the vast majority of places. there is only one island in Hawaii where the chickens really flourish and that's only because there are no real predators there. it would have just be a very bad idea and probably have some serious legal consequences if someone found out.

 

[Chick-Addict]

What in the world is this person’s reason for purposefully releasing domesticated animals outside in the hopes that they survive? And if some do survive and lay eggs and hatch chicks it would become a feral colony so technically not your ’friend’s flock’. They would not ‘belong’ to this ‘person’ (and I use this term loosely because I can’t refer to him/her/it in a more fitting way lest my post be deleted. Bottom line is there’s absolutely no intelligent (or even remotely intelligent) reason to do this. And anyone here who plays into this trolling post and provides suggestions is just as much a fool as the one who came up with this dumb idea.

I’m, I’m sorry but people have kept “feral” or self sufficient chickens for GENERATIONS! Only now in the time of PETA do we have those that think a chicken should be protected from EVERYTHING. They are LIVESTOCK to the majority and therefore the less you have to spend and put into them the better. I get that chickens have become a fad for suburban yuppies and therefore get treated more like the family dog than a food/financial source. But there ARE those of us that live on farms and homesteads that do not look at them that way. Stop being so judgmental and try to see it from the prospective of those of us that don’t raise “show chicken” are rely on the eggs and meat.

 

[Degalisto]

A friend of mine had standard red type Banties and he moved out and left them..1 year later there was still Banties..his house was in the back country of San Diego county..plenty of coyotes and raccoons!
My single Black Leghorn is a fairly wild gal!

 

[catharineslover]

Hi. Maybe Icelandic chickens? Auracana mixes are very independent I find.

 

[Chick-Addict]

I live in the extremely rural farmlands of Tennessee and the vast majority around her have just barnyard birds. Mixed with everything under the sun. Yes, we will go to Tractor Supply and purchase a few different breeds every now and then to add some fresh blood or different traits. But for the most part we have mutts. The strong survive and pass on their genes. I’ve kept a coop of Production Reds or Barred Rocks before but around here we have a guy that’s come up with a breed that grows extremely fast and is a prolific layer of brown eggs! And there are several around her with similar birds. In my experience, a lot of the pure bred birds can’t hold a candle to some of the mixed breed yard birds when it come to dual purpose birds and they also require a LOT less since they are self sufficient or “feral” even.

 

[catharineslover]

Hi. Maybe Icelandic chickens? Auracana mixes are very independent I find.

I think Icelandics are super foragers or something.

 

[Chick-Addict]

A friend of mine had standard red type Banties and he moved out and left them..1 year later there was still Banties..his house was in the back country of San Diego county..plenty of coyotes and raccoons!
My single Black Leghorn is a fairly wild gal!

I have a few of those running around also. Have a rooster out there that’s prob 13 years old! I don’t think he even likes chicken feed! He comes around and catches bugs. My game birds will also follow my cattle like egrets do! They’re pretty smart. I think they watched the Cattle Egrets and learned it was a good idea! LOL