Feeding and free ranging thoughts/tips/debunking?

[Tozan]

We have 10 acres here, I keep them in the coop most of the day with feed. The chicken coops are about 65 sq feet 4 chickens and the duck coop is 130 sqft. for 6 ducks.

I try to let them out for supervised foraging a few hours each afternoon at beer thirty and sometime during the day when I am working in the gardens or yard. Our garden supplies food for us and our birds. They get watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe, sunflower, strawberries, lots of greens, fresh corn, grape tomatoes, of course bugs and I plant grasses for them too.

We have three small ponds for ducks and Muscovy to play in. There is a lot of local wildlife quail, dove, rabbits, Javelina, coyote and other birds that come in to feed and get water in the yard too.

So far we have only lost one duck and one chicken to predators when they were accidentally left out over night.

They eat about 40 pounds of all flock a month and a 40 pound bag of sunflower seeds every 10 weeks.

 

[raingarden]

We have a conundrum. There is a quasi-feral flock of about a dozen or so here. They go where they want and can take care of themselves, but we feed them lightly every day just to make sure they stay around. Nobody knows how long they've been here but flocks with the same genetics (wheaten-like hens and BBR roosters) have been in the area since before the war. That puts them well along on the road to being a land race. At this point, the flock is sort of a family heirloom and I don't want their genetics to get screwed up on my watch.

So, the problem is, I'm afraid to free range the OEGB or cemain for fear that they will interbreed with the feral. So, those guys have to stay locked up 24/7 even though both OEGB and cemani are know to be good foragers.

 

[seminolewind]

Mine freerange. If they are supposed to get 16% protein, they may not get it while free ranging. So I compensate by supplementing with those freeze dried meal worms (?). They are supposedly 50% protein. I use it as "scratch" every few days.

Free ranging is good for them mentally and nutriently. I feel I just have to add some high protein stuff to make things better.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

You all have been really helpful. While I can't guarantee my sister in law will apply any of my suggestions this gives me plenty of ideas for future poultry on our side of the property.

Most predators here are night time. I can only think of one wild predator to really worry about.. Birds. There are a few domestic worries though. While I don't think my brothers outside/inside cats would get much out of fighting with the chickens I worry about the dogs. our neighbors dogs sometimes end up in our yard. They've never made any trouble and just roam around sometimes going in the woods. But better safe then sorry right. However there is the issue of my brothers dogs. They attacked my mothers dog twice. Mainly its them both together thats the issue. The younger one however is known for killing wild rabbits. So I think that may be an issue. While their not always roaming free together it does make me realize that even though the only worry is maybe the bald eagles and bigger hawks here I think I should also remember the higher chance of the culprit being a dog.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Sounds like you would be the better chicken keeper. Maybe you should build the coop you want and convince them to let you take their flock to your coop for good treatment and you can give them eggs. They can play games all day and get free eggs from you. Win, win, win.....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Through alot of research on my own part theres alot of things that have completely opposite answers which confuses me. Some say chickens should have food at all times other said twice a day or even smaller meals 3-4 times a day. What does people on here say?

The reason you get opposite answers is that opposite things work. We have different goals and manage them differently. We feed them differently. Some, like the meat birds raised especially for meat might do better with a different feeding regimen than a flock of laying chickens. One of the challenges for someone new on here is to find someone that kind of matches your situation and pay more attention to what they say. Most new people and a lot of older people on here don't understand that we are all different. What works well for me might not work at all for you.

Free ranging. Our property is almost 10 acres not fenced in but its more long than wide. I keep telling my sister in law since the chicken run isn't that big that she should let them free range a couple hours a day but she only does it for 10-15 minutes long enough to feed them peas or corn. How far will a chicken go from the coop? I know their food motivated so im just curious does anyone free range during the day and do you do it supervised or just let them go free and they come back at night?

There is nothing new about keeping chickens. The ancient Chinese and Egyptians were incubating eggs and raising chicks without broody hens. For thousands of years before that people were keeping flocks of free ranging chickens. Even then some were managing them differently but a real common model was that the chickens would feed themselves by foraging in the better weather months. The quality of forage was important, they could not sustain themselves if all they had was a manicured lawn. You are in Michigan, you'd have to supplement their feed in winter even if you had great forage. Down here in Louisiana they could forage year around. They were not kept as pets, but were livestock. On the farm in Tennessee where I grew up our cattle fed themselves in the good weather months but in winter we fed them hay. We treated our chickens the same way. The milk cow and the plow horses did get daily grain but not the beef cattle or chickens.

Nobody was assigned to watch the chickens full time while they foraged on those ancient farms. I understand the farm I grew up on is considered ancient by most of the people on this forum. Predators were a danger but people knew how to manage predators. If they needed to kill a fox, raccoon, or whatever, they could and did kill a fox, raccoon, or whatever. Many people on this forum can't free range chickens or manage predators, they live too close to other people. You may find that your biggest risk for a predator is a dog, maybe a neighbor's or one that was abandoned. When I was in Arkansas I shot two abandoned dogs that were killing my chickens. I hated doing that, it wasn't the dogs' fault they were abandoned and they were hungry.

All this probably doesn't help you but maybe you can understand why you might get different answers for different people. We have different situations and different experiences. There are people in this country and around the world that still keep chickens the old fashioned way.

So now to your questions. They do not have to free range, that can lead to issues like predators. They will do fine contained if you feed them an appropriate feed. They enjoy free ranging but as long as you have enough room in the coop and run they can be very happy in there. If you want them to get greens or bugs, give it to them in the run.

Most of the time my chickens stayed within 300 feet or so of the coop though I had one group that would occasionally roam about 1,000 feet. The hens returned to the coop to lay eggs when they needed to. As it got dark they returned to the coop to sleep so I could lock them in safe from predators.

Any time they free range you have a risk of a predator attack. Don't believe anybody that tells you predators only attack at night. Certain ones are more active at night, that's why locking them up at night is pretty important, but people lose chickens in the middle of the day. A lady I got my blue egg laying stock from watched a bobcat take her rooster as she was looking out of the window washing the lunch time dishes. Different people on this forum have had a fox or hawk take a chicken while they were out with the flock, within 15 feet of where they were. Your being there reduces the risk but doesn't eliminate it.

I don't know if any of this helps you or not. Good luck!

 

[MysteryChicken]

I free feed. Occasionally I'll let a few birds out to graze, or throw some greens into the coop.

I would like to free range a flock, but can't right now.

 

[Shadrach]

How far will a chicken go from the coop?

Usually chickens won't wander far from where there is food, water and human habitation. The exception being a hen looking for a nest site ime.
It's not the size of the plot that has the most impact on how far they'll range, it's what's on the plot. If you've got trees and dense bushes near the house then they are likely to stay closer than if you've got flat grassland close by.

does anyone free range during the day and do you do it supervised or just let them go free and they come back at night?

Lots of people do one or the other of the options. Until recently I had always taken care of dawn to dusk free rangers. With the chickens I look after now they get a few hours of supervised ranging out of the coop run.

What one should consider before taking any decision on how to keep chickens is the common types of predators locally and the protection the environment where one wants them to range in.

Try some supervised ranging first and watch how the behave.

 

[topdiggy2]

They've got six acres that I plant cover crops on for them to forage, plus they have access to pellets for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

Question, im trying to prepare my chicken plot now and have similar size land. What cover crop/seeds are you planting for your free range chickens?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Question, im trying to prepare my chicken plot now and have similar size land. What cover crop/seeds are you planting for your free range chickens?

Where are you located? Climate can have a big effect on what might be suitable for you.