how many chickens per acre?

[pkeeler]

Please explain how you arrived at the 1-2 per acre figure?????

I didn't arrive at it. I believe it is Robert Plamondon's figure. It all depends on where you live of course. If you have wild turkeys in your neighborhood, you have good fowl grazing land. In the largest flocks, wild turkeys go about 2-32/sq. mile. You figure chickens are generally smaller, so maybe 64/sq. mile. That would work out to about 10 acres for every chicken. Most likely, if you are in good grazing habitat, you could probably support 2 chickens per acre, if you fed them when the ground is frozen. But I'm just guessing at that.​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I didn't arrive at it. I believe it is Robert Plamondon's figure. It all depends on where you live of course. If you have wild turkeys in your neighborhood, you have good fowl grazing land. In the largest flocks, wild turkeys go about 2-32/sq. mile. You figure chickens are generally smaller, so maybe 64/sq. mile. That would work out to about 10 acres for every chicken. Most likely, if you are in good grazing habitat, you could probably support 2 chickens per acre, if you fed them when the ground is frozen. But I'm just guessing at that.

Not disagreeing with you per se, but I would note that the above reasoning assumes that the size of wild turkey populations is determined by food availability, not by other factors such as predation pressure, social dynamics of breeding flocks, availability of sheltered sites to overwinter, etc... which I dunno how good an assumption that is.

Any particular number for how many 'wild' self-supporting chickens an acre could support, will pretty much be arbitrary, though, as it is very definitely going to vary a LOT with location. I would expect the o.p. was only looking for a ballpark estimate, and has probably gotten many more than she bargained for, LOL

Pat

 

[Novaleigh]

Love this thread! I have 1 acre of land and 12 chickens. I have lots of fresh water for them at all times (a must in Arizona, even in winter!) and food available at all times, though I need to figure out what to do since the local tweety birds think it is for them too!.

 

[mstricer]

If you are asking how many chickens can live solely off foraging, it is 1-2 per acre.  But Schmije is right on the number if you are feeding them. /img/smilies/smile.png

I have 2 acres and my birds mostly freerange and they haven't eatin everything. I think you can support way more chickens free ranging only. Mine have even been foraging all winter. I live in Ohio. I have 19 layers and 4 rooster in the layer coop. Even though it is winter.I've only been going through less then 40 lbs a week. This is a good thread.

 

[twisted troy]

I live in central tx and really don't have good chicken graze most of the year. I keep a flock of 10-25 and don't feed them unless u count the food I toss out from the fridge. In a total draught with no foliage I had no problems on 10 acres, right now with all this rain i'm sure a few hundred would thrive.

 

[birdpond]

I'm curious when it comes to suburban backyard hens, how many are generally OK to keep on a typical 1/4 -1/3 acres home-site (bearing in mind the actual yard area is much less by the time the house is built). Most say min of three hens needed to keep each other happy. I would think 5 standard sized laying hens would be the limit (assuming supplement with feed, movable run for safe foraging etc) but I am just a newbie? I am sure some keep many more but - what do you consider ideal for neighborhood and for hens? THANKS!

 

[jasondean]

just a curious question my daughters friend asked...

Back in "the day" without taking special precautions (like collecting "night manure" and removing it to place on other land, tilling the soil every year, adding lime or all 3) most free range farmers agreed that 50 was about the limit per acre. If you did the above steps you could push it to 100, but you were risking pathogen build up, soil becoming too rich in nitrogen, failure of grass to grow, and ultimately failure of the flock. In one article I read on the subject the author noted that he ran across a few highly profitable opperations that sang the praises of high density free range but none of them were ever in business longer than 3 years (about the length of time the soil can withstand the beating).

 

[Mrs. K]

Forage only with cattle is two acres per cow depending on pasture.

A broiler barn is usually 100 x 400 feet and they house about 40,000 birds in them up to about 8 weeks of age which is processing time.

DEFRA in the UK spec. out 1 sq meter per bird. Which would be roughly 9 sq feet per bird.

In western SD, one considers 50 acres per cow/calf pair.

As to the original poster, a lot of this is going to depend on the climate, the type of chickens that you have, (some breeds are better foragers) and the predators you have. I do have wild turkeys, and they do cover some territory, but they have also been known to follow the cake wagon too for additional feed. In South Dakota or further north, I just don't think you could really raise chickens without additional feed.

MRs K

 

[strips321]

i love chicken