Free ranging pros and cons?

[Dead Rabbit]

My chickens hate corn unless its cooked or fresh. They will ignore dried corn in favor of other foods. It is the last resort food for my ladies.They love the oats though, they're a bit odd I guess, lol!

yes very odd. ive never seen a chicken that didnt like corn. id say you have raised yours to be this way, in an essence spoiled them. (not a bad thing in some regards) if raised on scratch which is truly garbage anyway, they will not prefer whole corn. but yours not liking corn is not a big deal IMO. corn is mostly nothing more than an empty carb, with little nutritional value. the only value is in the uncracked germ. i only feed a handful of corn every couple days, as a treat, and they love it, even the free ranging fowl.

in summer months the fowl will eat less of it, esp. the hotter the weather, because corn, is a "hot" food. they dont want that extra internal heat. in winter months i feed more corn, but still very little in comparison to other feed rations.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

My understanding is that the extra calcium in layer rations isn't the best for chicks. I got starter when my chicks arrived, 5# bag, went through another then bought grower until they were about to lay (generically, based on the ~5 months of age which is common).


My girls have 24x7 access to Layer crumbles, or in the winter when they aren't getting bugs, worms, etc a product called egg producer plus (local grain company, has more protein). They 'free range' during the day and eat whatever they find but they also go to the coop and eat the commercial food and to lay in the nest boxes. I go through about a half gallon of feed daily in the winter. That amount is good for 3 days or more when they can find eats outside.

Bruce

if you go by UNDERSTANDING, you will follow and believe every little thing read in print. much of whats in print is by scientific study that is done on a very small scale basis, in a controled environment, with one certain breed, etc, etc. anotherwords, not real life.

even worse.......the majority of whats in print is put there by individuals who have only had fowl for a few yrs or less. anotherwords, not true experience. all they know is what theyve read in print, or what they observe from a very few individual hens, in only one type of environment.

to truly know something, you must try all different scenarios, with different individuals, and different breeds, etc. but this takes alot of time and experience. most wont commit to doing this. and i understand this too. its much easier to enjoy your birds if you just let them eat sleep, and lay. but still, there is true value in some of these odd ball, unorthadox, off the wall posts that are made..........................

 

[Dead Rabbit]

I live way back in the woods and about 100 ft from my house is a powerline that goes through the property. When I woke up I saw men spraying around the area. I tried to ask them what they were spraying and they didn't speak English. I told them to stop because I have chickens that free range close to that area. Do you think this will harm them?

this reminds me of a story i read from someone many yrs ago. the discussion was on crooked keel bones. this individual, claimed he never had a problem with crooked keel bones in his fowl, till the state came through spraying weeds. the poison they sprayed caused that generation of fowl to develope crooked keels. he never had no problem before or since.

it pure speculation on my part, but my opinion crooked keels are a genetic thing, my guess is it was whatever particular brood cock he was using at that time that was passing on this genetic flaw. but thats just my speculation, it very well could have been the poison.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Have you tried fermenting scratch? Mine free range all day, they have a "yard" but, the fence enclosure is really more to keep stray dogs & day predators out. They roost in their coop at night. When I show up with a bowl of fermented scratch & crumbles they all come running and will follow me till I put the bowl down. No waste, every single bit eaten. But, they are not starving I promise. They are out eating clover, grass, dandelions and chasing anything crawling or flying. Nothing is funnier than watching one of the banties racing around chasing a mosquito or fly. I also collect June bugs in a 5 gallon bucket under a light behind my husband's shop. At first they weren't sure what to do with them but, now they come running for those "treats" too.

many yrs ago, i would ferment whole oats. but do you ferment the crumbles too? or am i misreading your post? ive never tried that.

i now adays, pour water over their ration of crumbles and pellets. this is in the outside feed troughs. they also have dry crumbles in their interior self feeders. but they do love that soaked ration. the free ranging fowl dont eat it all up quickly like the penned fowl, but by the end of the day its mostly gone. if not i cut back some. i also like to soak it in rain water, when possible. im convinced fresh rain water has alot more health benefits than regular ground water.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Have you tried fermenting scratch? Mine free range all day, they have a "yard" but, the fence enclosure is really more to keep stray dogs & day predators out. They roost in their coop at night. When I show up with a bowl of fermented scratch & crumbles they all come running and will follow me till I put the bowl down. No waste, every single bit eaten. But, they are not starving I promise. They are out eating clover, grass, dandelions and chasing anything crawling or flying. Nothing is funnier than watching one of the banties racing around chasing a mosquito or fly. I also collect June bugs in a 5 gallon bucket under a light behind my husband's shop. At first they weren't sure what to do with them but, now they come running for those "treats" too.

Hello, Not a chicken nut....I too have always given my chickens fresh corn.... do you notice that it causes runny excrement. I was told that this should be expected as it does mostly the same to humans (speak for yourself) but even my two day old chicks are given the chance to pick at corn cobs. I believe it gives them something to do with their day as well as appeases their foraging instinct.... njust miss dry poo when it is on my back deck.... just curious to get another persons opinion. Thank you and take care.

 

[Chooks n Kids]

So, just lost another rooster to the x@!*% eagle. That would be 6 in 4 months. Plus one hen and one hen badly injured. Watched it flying by with someone's cat the other evening. I now only let my chickens out when I am with them. Have a new roo and he prefers to stay in the run so they hens usually stay with him. Let them out this morning while cleaning the barn and sure enough, within 5 minutes the eagle was circling, so back in the coop they go. Thinking about stringing fishing line with CD's across an area of the field to see if that would deter it. Any thoughts? The neighbour is so fed up he might solve the problem permanently, yeah I know it is illegal to shoot them but I for one would be happy to see the problem just vanish.

 

[FallingSkies]

I am fairly new to chickens and ducks and geese but do have some questions.
My birds free range from 530 to about 730 or 8 at night. They are from few months to a year and a b half head roo. But they are used to eating in morning and night. I tried just letting them out in morning and not feeding but then they follow me everywhere. So i feed them.
They are mostly roos as I wanted to for meat and bug eating.i have about 3 acres a b d half is grass weeds and wild flowers and rest woods. It is all long and they are constantly eating and scratching. But still go through a lot of feed. I don't mind at night that's how they come in but how much should they get beside fruit and vegetables scraps.right now there is about 35 to 40 roosters of the ages i mentioned and another group acclimation to older group. These have my growing hens in so being careful about how and where there going as only one hen is old enough for any interested and have to keep her with her boyfriend so she doesn't get attacked.
so how much should I be feeding if I did free choice Iwould go broke because they really are pigs. And bbarred rocks are mean little suckers.

 

[misbhaven]

falling skies....if they are just for meat you could add cracked corn to their diet a lot of it as it is about half the price of feed it also fattens them up....or 2 take that same corn and feed put in in a big trash can fill with water until it is about an inch higher than feed ( feed and corn will swell a lot so when first starting fill only half full) add some apple cider vineger with the mother can buy at walmart etc..and you a fermenting feed which looks kind of like oatmeal and more filling as grains are swelled and they use more of the nutrients in the feed it lowers you bill..or you can do just the grains...basically you take some out then put some new in...

 

[FallingSkies]

Thanks for suggestions. It's just i wasn't sure if they were still getting so much food wet her they would prefer the easy way being fed over free ranging.
I must say since they have been out their combs have gotten really red and really yellow legs and feet. So assumed it was what they were eating here. We have tons of spiders ones i have never seen before as well as other bugs and slugs and always eating grass.and have gotten so big from being outside. Just did the want to over feed. Then they take siestas in shade.

 

[kauaifeerange]

What do people us for fencing for more then one acre of land ?