We kept a big flock of very low management chickens and guineas for 10 years on our farm in Ohio. We did feed them but mostly they raised themselves. I was managing a sheep flock intensively so the fowl had to be rather extensive.
Protection from predators at night was the key. We had a very tall barn, it was at least 16 feet to the bottom of the truss chords, and that's where the fowl roosted. We rarely raised the keets ourselves, but the flock raised enough to keep going. I figured coons would climb up but apparently they didn't go that high, at least not up 6x6 posts. The worst year we had was when a hawk or hawks hit both flocks hard for weeks or longer.
As for the chickens, they were games, Albany and Lacy roundheads, crossed with a couple of bantam hens and a little Sumatra for a while. Over the years I selected the more game looking roosters. Fighting was never a problem, probably because there was so much space. The dominant roosters could stake out territories. And I remember two gorgeous stags that looked like pure games and acted like buddies, running under the dominance of an older rooster. I culled excess roosters too, shooting them with a .22. This system rewarded hens that could raise their own chicks in and around the barnyard with a little help from us. Water and feed available but running out at all times.
Most people I knew with guineas and chickens raised extensively lost them to predators. Again, I think our barn was the key. Coons own the night, and so do the other predators by and large. If fowl can sleep safe, many can make it through the days. We started wtih 20 or 30 guineas and the flock maintained that number. Chickens were getting out of control, being more successful mothers, peaking at around 80 by the time we started dispersing to move.
Protection from predators at night was the key. We had a very tall barn, it was at least 16 feet to the bottom of the truss chords, and that's where the fowl roosted. We rarely raised the keets ourselves, but the flock raised enough to keep going. I figured coons would climb up but apparently they didn't go that high, at least not up 6x6 posts. The worst year we had was when a hawk or hawks hit both flocks hard for weeks or longer.
As for the chickens, they were games, Albany and Lacy roundheads, crossed with a couple of bantam hens and a little Sumatra for a while. Over the years I selected the more game looking roosters. Fighting was never a problem, probably because there was so much space. The dominant roosters could stake out territories. And I remember two gorgeous stags that looked like pure games and acted like buddies, running under the dominance of an older rooster. I culled excess roosters too, shooting them with a .22. This system rewarded hens that could raise their own chicks in and around the barnyard with a little help from us. Water and feed available but running out at all times.
Most people I knew with guineas and chickens raised extensively lost them to predators. Again, I think our barn was the key. Coons own the night, and so do the other predators by and large. If fowl can sleep safe, many can make it through the days. We started wtih 20 or 30 guineas and the flock maintained that number. Chickens were getting out of control, being more successful mothers, peaking at around 80 by the time we started dispersing to move.
