Establishing Feral Chicken flock

[MidGaMarine]

Interesting topic. There's a town in Georgia that has feral chickens roaming. Check it out. I'm not sure of the name but it was on the news once.

 

[Sigraham]

Pictured birds appear to be American Games. Wheaton color pattern, peacomb (evidence of Asian influence), white legs, and high tail all characters in picture that distinguish them from Red Jungle Fowl.

Some of the hens are black and have black or purple/gray legs. What ever they are they are very entertaining.

 

[Sigraham]

Pictured birds appear to be American Games. Wheaton color pattern, peacomb (evidence of Asian influence), white legs, and high tail all characters in picture that distinguish them from Red Jungle Fowl.

 

[Fowl Explorer]

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?

A friend of mine got sick of her chickens and just opened the doors (she had a large property with a woods behind the pasture) and said, "Y'all are on your own!" They got the message and disappeared. But as a flock, came up occasionally to see if there was any treats. She harvested one occasionally. They lived there just fine for over two years, then she moved. At the time there was not a lot of coyote pressure, but all the other normal predators in the mid-Atlantic piedmont were around.
So I guess the answer is: any normal large fowl layers might be able to do that. Hers was a mixed flock.

 

[jspeese]

I too doubt that too many chickens could become feral, except perhaps in situations like Key West where there isn't much pressure from predators. Chickens, like most livestock, aren't "natural"; they've had many traits for survival (camouflage plumage, ability to fly, broodiness, etc.) bred out of them. However, some breeds are definitely better at free-ranging than others. Leghorns are quick and alert, and especially brown leghorns with plumage like the jungle fowl camouflage well. But remember, even wild birds are lucky many years if they raise even a fraction of their chicks to adulthood. So imagine how much harder it is for a domesticated bird that lacks a lot of the traits and instincts for survival.

 

[forgive7]

Not viable here in mo, predation would eat the whole flock.........

 

[bsb2325]

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?

I would recommend jungle fowl. They are great foragers and, while the eggs are on the small side they are very tasty. They reproduce quite well and the roosters are good at guarding the entire flock. I also found a marked decrease in ticks and other insects where they forage.

 

[Hobbybreeder]

definitely game and game mix chickens, bantams and other leaner faster chickens. As someone stated barn mixes and other plump chickens are easily eaten.

 

[Deb ekholm]

why not? I really am just interested in learning about how to go about this. not actually doing this

Google flock of chickens living under California bridge

 

[Sigraham]

Two years ago we moved to rural NC in the Sandhills. One of the other landowners had released some Red Jungle fowl so there was a flock of 10-25 chickens. They come several times a day, announce themselves, but are wary and wait when we go out with the feed. They are most likely mixed as the hens are different colors. The only predators have been a neighbor’s dogs which have been re-homed. We enjoy watching them so along with the feed we provided some nesting boxes and for awhile enjoyed the best eggs! Then they decided to go broody, so we ended up enjoying mom and her chicks but no eggs. We are hoping for more eggs this summer.

Pictured birds appear to be American Games. Wheaton color pattern, peacomb (evidence of Asian influence), white legs, and high tail all characters in picture that distinguish them from Red Jungle Fowl.

some of the hens have gray or black legs.