Going 100% free range, advice?

[AllenK RGV]

Do your homework on beans. Some beans need to be cooked in order to be safe to eat. I believe mung beans are fine if you just sprout them.

I agree with other posters that even if you provide good free range (that is not a typical back lawn!!!) they will still need a balanced feed ration. When my birds have access to free range with FF also provided, my girls eat .18 - .20 # of dry wt feed per bird per day. My mileage varies according to time of year, and how much free range time they get. These rates are achieved by feeding them in morning or mid day, and topping them off again late afternoon if their crops indicate they need more feed.

Yeah doing crop checks as well but love that you mentioned it. I don't have a typical back yard either=)

 

[AllenK RGV]

Some guy has over 600 chickens.. Doesn't feed them at all.

Yeah he has a boatload of acreage I had seen this one too! =P Those of us with too much time on our hands play with chicken too much!

 

[AllenK RGV]

Do your homework on beans. Some beans need to be cooked in order to be safe to eat. I believe mung beans are fine if you just sprout them.

I agree with other posters that even if you provide good free range (that is not a typical back lawn!!!) they will still need a balanced feed ration. When my birds have access to free range with FF also provided, my girls eat .18 - .20 # of dry wt feed per bird per day. My mileage varies according to time of year, and how much free range time they get. These rates are achieved by feeding them in morning or mid day, and topping them off again late afternoon if their crops indicate they need more feed.

Turns out mung beans with an 8 hour soak is pretty tasty the chicken wanted me to tell you they don't require sprouting =) I do sprout the lentils for them. I just had a 400gram package I soaked this morning as I am going to try a southern style mung bean soup for dinner so thought I'd see if they wanted a share of my din din!

 

[AllenK RGV]

Well after a couple of days they are finally behaving like a flock and foraging as a coherent group. Unfortunately, we still have the porch camping behavior(without screaming for food) as I imagine they feel that is their primary daytime coop no idea how I can fix that other than to build ourselves a screened in human enclosure. We shut the gates and that only serves to limit the dogs ability to leave the deck. Oh well at least I get to save on feed costs so a tiny win for me.

 

[Chickassan]

Your dogs don't eat chicken poop?

Well after a couple of days they are finally behaving like a flock and foraging as a coherent group. Unfortunately, we still have the porch camping behavior(without screaming for food) as I imagine they feel that is their primary daytime coop no idea how I can fix that other than to build ourselves a screened in human enclosure. We shut the gates and that only serves to limit the dogs ability to leave the deck. Oh well at least I get to save on feed costs so a tiny win for me.

 

[AllenK RGV]

Your dogs don't eat chicken poop?

Yes the dogs clean the tiles out on the porch pretty effectively. Naturally once they have been out there snacking they want to try and lick us. Guess that is no worse than the fact they lick their own butts as well.

 

[Chickassan]

Ha! Well at least you know their snacks are mostly grass and beans now.

Yes the dogs clean the tiles out on the porch pretty effectively. Naturally once they have been out there snacking they want to try and lick us. Guess that is no worse than the fact they lick their own butts as well.