Free chicken?

[SandraMort]

Quote:
LOL! Yeah, some of their numbers seemed somewhat out of date.

Good thing you keep asking questions, Sandra. You're very wise.

At this rate, it wont be long until that rose color is rubbed clean off your glasses and you'll be seeing clearly. Good job!

I'm not actually all that ideallistic. I'm rather cynical. I can't possibly imagine that this would WORK, or everybody woould do it... but it's also worth doublechecking to make sure before totally pitching the idea.

However, even if they all die, even if I do spend money on the feed, I'm ahead of the game. It'll give me a test run to see WHERE the problems arise, as they certainly will. And as cold hearted as it sounds, they'd have died anyway, so at least a wild animal is getting a good meal out of it, and I'm not out 100 dollars for heirloom fox food... right?​

 

[SandraMort]

LOL! I do ask an awful lot of questions, don't I?

 

[JennsPeeps]

The article was written in 1979. Somehow I think it would be hard to convince a hatchery to give up 75 chicks now when those chicks can become a key - and profitable - ingredient in "chicken & rice" pet food.

75 roosters on 8 acres would make a LOT of noise!!

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Thats why we love you. Now toodle on over to this thread and show us your clever, surreal side:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=73241&p=1

 

[greyhorsewoman]

I wonder what the cost of a bag of scratch was in 1979?

Actually, it would be a BAD idea to set up a scenerio to ATTRACT predators to your barn/farm. Believe me, once they find you, they will be back again and again for more free meals. You've been doing a lot research, you might include in it how you plan to eradicate the predators that decide to try to decimate your flock(s).

 

[SandraMort]

How is letting cheap birds roam "attracting predators" but letting heirloom birds roam is "free range"?

 

[silkiechicken]

If you butcher extra roos that are non meat birds at 6 weeks old, they will be about 6-8 ounces each. No joke, they don't grow like meat birds.

If you can put them into a pred proof barn at night, it should be fine, but you still have to add heat and brood them for the first 6-8 weeks like any type of chick. Day old chicks can't free range and get strong on their own.


If you lock them up and have them fenced in at night, they should be fine. Just like other free range birds, they all need protection at night because they don't do well when they can't see. So regardless of the type of bird you are raising, be it an experiment or prize birds, pred proofing their sleeping establishment would be the first step. Free range in the day can be done if you have no foxes and such. I can free range here because I am land locked on acerage in the city and the only preds are coons that hunt at night. In other places just north in the country, there are foxes, so people there often cannot free range.

Preds are smart... I lost 20 in one night to a coon who learned how to OPEN a door!

 

[SandraMort]

Quote:
Good to know!!! Those owuld be processed at what age?

If you can put them into a pred proof barn at night, it should be fine, but you still have to add heat and brood them for the first 6-8 weeks like any type of chick. Day old chicks can't free range and get strong on their own.

Agreed. But again, I've never raised chickens. Wouldn't it make more sense to practice on cheap or free cockerel chicks than to do my first time on expensive birds?

If you lock them up and have them fenced in at night, they should be fine.

They'd go into the barn at night.

Free range in the day can be done if you have no foxes and such.

Or are willing to accept the losses. My inlaws start off the year with a doze guinea hens and they lose about one a month to hawks or foxes. Yes, my husband and I are willing to lose some to the preds in order to learn about the process... if we lose one or two a month, I think it's still worth trying. If we lose them all in a day or two, then I know I can't free range my expensiver layers in the spring when I buy them!

You guys are making me think, it's a good thing.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Why not?

Why not try it, if it is something you are really thinking about. I mean, the worst thing that is going to happen is you're either going to have neighbors with headaches(from all the crowing) and have lost $60(4 bags of chick starter at $15 each), plus any gas($4+ per gallon) to go a pick up the cockerels from the hatchery.

Do you live near a hatchery? If the hatchery has to ship them, they will charge you for shipping. You also have to find a hatchery that does not use their cockerels, just because they kill the cockerels, doesn't mean they are completely useless.

I say, go for it and let us know how it turns out.

-Kim

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Sorry double post.