Feed Management Methods [Poll]

[U_Stormcrow]

I have some suspicions - suspicions I've put in print - about the "typical" BYC poster and the way they keep their chickens. A fellow poster called me on it, and I realized I had no "hard data", which makes my very common post beginning "for the backyard owner, of the typical backyard flock..." just loaded full of assumptions I can't back up.

Please HELP. Planning a follow up poll on flock composition - maybe next week.

/edit If you maintain multiple flocks with differing management methods (Thank you @Dinoroar - i had not considered the possibility) you may now cast a vote for each method that you use.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'll start. My birds have essentially unfettered access to more than 1,000 sq ft each whenever they want. Only regular feedings, a hen house I secure in hurricanes, and an electric fence seperate them from "feral" status.

 

[sourland]

It has been a while since I had a chicken flock. The last were semi feral. I provided feed ad lib and natural reproduction was successful that every autumn I would send four or five crates of birds to the auction. They were medium sized gamefowl/bantam crosses - primarily BBR in color/type. They sold very well. Cooper's hawks eventually wreaked havoc on the chicks and GHO eliminated the adult birds. My pigeons were never free flown - again eventually the Cooper's hawks put me out of business with them, and I am presently birdless. Predation, especially from raptors, to me is far more of a problem than it was even twenty years ago.

 

[3KillerBs]

My flock is kept in a very large coop and run, but do not range free and my best attempts at moving my fence still don't result in keeping fresh vegetation constantly available.

 

[Shadrach]

I have some suspicions - suspicions I've put in print - about the "typical" BYC poster and the way they keep their chickens. A fellow poster called me on it, and I realized I had no "hard data", which makes my very common post beginning "for the backyard owner, of the typical backyard flock..." just loaded full of assumptions I can't back up.

Please HELP. Planning a follow up poll on flock composition - maybe next week.

Good man. I've voted with respect to the Ex Battery hens I'm caring for.

 

[Dinoroar]

Interesting poll. I cast my vote based on my main egg flock who are at liberty to come and go as they please. Some sleep in their coop some up in trees I give them feed in the evening and always make sure there is water available so they’re not Really feral… but pretty close .

But I also have more of a ‘pet’ flock who are kept secure in a coop and run with supervised free range time. And then the seramas who sleep in a cage on my enclosed sun porch and go in the fenced the garden area during the day, So really I should cast more than one vote.

 

[Brooks_]

Mostly* secure. Range over 1k sf a few hours a day.

*Keeps most of them in.

Breaks out calculator to see if 1k sf each. yes, but they don't utilize all of it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Breaks out calculator to see if 1k sf each. yes, but they don't utilize all of it.

the follow up will be asking about the grounds on which they free range - to sort the small back yard full of grass from the pasture of grass, the pasture of grain, the fruit orchard, and the chickens being used to keep the veggie gardens bug free. Since each involve diferent forage variety and quantity. It will take me a few days to come up with the "answers" to that poll to capture the data I want.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

1000ft per bird?! My run allows for about 30ft per bird ( Which is less and almost not even close enough to calculate), and they are secured at night. They can scatter down into the washes on either side of my house if they want and I let them out.

I picked those numbers to sort the people who let their birds free in an urban or suburban "back yard" and those whose birds can range in a space that (in most environments) is likely to provide a significant amount of potential nutrition most of the year. 1,000 sq ft per bird is equal to ground worthy of 1/2 AU per acre which many soils can achieve with only minimal human effort.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks all for the input on where they forage - that will help devise answers for the next poll.

Right now, I'm just trying to collect data on how often our various flocks forage, and whether they forage in an arbitrary "large" area, or a "small" area. The next poll will try and tease some answers about the diversity and abundance of the forage.