Free Roaming Chickens

[spiritdance]

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Actually free range birds, like children in daycare, face more challenges to their immune systems, and it's those challenges that build up strong immunities. Research shows that kids that attend daycare as infants/toddlers contract fewer communicable diseases over their school careers than children who start school later. The explanation ... their immune systems are challenged when they are at their peak of development, and therefore the immune response is stronger and lasts longer. I haven't seen any research done specifically with chickens, but several studies have shown that pastured pigs have fewer parasites and contract fewer diseases than their penned counterparts. Blood samples on study pigs showed that the pastured pigs ... exposed throughout their lives to parasites, etc., had higher levels of antibodies to common ills, higher resistance to blood-borne parasites, and healthier gut flora (more resistance to parasites) - than pen-raised study pigs. Another recent study demonstrated that "pasture only" equines that were given adequate forage and a minimum of external "additives," INCLUDING chemical wormers, also had far more active immune systems than barn-raised, rotationally wormed counterparts. I can't imagine that this same principle doesn't hold true for chickens as well. I'm not saying stop worming and treating ills as necessary, but it sure seems to me that an increasing amount of evidence suggests we humans are fixin' things that ain't broke! We've become so soft ourselves and developed such an adversarial relationship with the environment that we just assume our animals are the same way. But I never saw a chicken that simply couldn't do without air conditioning, hot water, and a big screen t.v. ... we humans aren't nearly as smart as we think we are ...

 

[jamband]

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in addition to whats already been said. I dont think you need to ever use harsh chemicals to treat anything. Dont do it to myself wont do it to them. Plus the eggs and meat are much healthier. Higher in omegas, low saturated fat. Chickens came from the jungle.

 

[schellie69]

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If they are on dirt they will find worms and bug and those are the carriers of worms that infest the chicken. If you are just feeding them the food and keeping them locked up then you are treating them just like the ones in the store. I think chickens have been around forever and have ran free it is humans that have breed their resistance to illness and parasites out of them. I love to watch my girls scratching around for bugs grass, and other goodies they find. And chicks even scratch around so they know to scratch to look for food even from days old that tells me that they will miss scratching around looking for treats.

 

[Grand-hen-ma]

I don't free range my girls because I have hawks, coyotes and my dogs would kill them. My neighbor used to let their girls free range and one afternoon they heard all kinds of noises so they rushed out only to see a coyote kill the last of their chickens. They lost 2 ducks and a turkey as well. Another neighbor had a beautiful rooster jump their fence and came into my yard and my rotti killed him.

I do offer my girls treats and grass clippings.

 

[spiritdance]

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Yes, predation is definitely a risk for free rangers, and every owner has to weigh that risk against the benefits and make his/her decision based on personal circumstances. In my case, we have nearly 30 acres for our birds to range, with a predator-resistant perimeter around the pastures, donkeys (good coyote busters) on those pastures, and lots of cover from overhead threats. Yes, we lose the occasional bird to predation, but the rate is too low to justify denying the flock the benefits of free ranging. The only birds we always keep penned are the top knotted breeds that are at increased risk from overhead attack, and they have a very large yard with lots of bushes for shade but no tall trees nearby to harbor hawks, owls, etc. Otherwise, we pen birds we want to collect purebred eggs from, but we have enough of each breed to rotate out birds to the free range with "eating egg" flock pretty regularly. Since we began this approach, we have noticed better overall health in the birds, WAAAYYYY better egg and meat quality, and fewer conflicts amongst the birds, even in the coop at night. It works for us. But as I said, each circumstance is different, so each owner has to make his/her own decision....