How much land? Chicken/Turkey to acre ratio...

[centrarchid]

This is one of the most useful replies ive gotten back so far, although I appreciate any and all feedback and advice. I love the electrified chickens, and am making note of this so that I can buy some myself! Ive never heard of that, but alas am not surprised they exist. The areas I am looking at vary from virtually "predatorless" to a much higher level , but im going to treat each as high due to that unknown factor. Was also thinking electrified fences? I know that will be $$$ on a larger piece of land, will likely be the exterior portion of the 5 acre free range block. Im going to rely on my handy alert dog to notify me of issues during the time and days that I am at home (which will be most of the time). She barks at everything, might as well make use of her as I can.
and for turkeys- yes, I acknowledge they are a whole other beast. I got some good advice in this thread as to a book on them specifically, so ill be investing some time into that. I may handle the birds in separate areas if the turkeys display little to no interest in roaming around and truly optimizing the foraging potential.....
hmmm what else?? theyres so much!!

It was supposed to be electrified chickens but to wildlife there is not much difference.

 

[m1chelle1]

In real live honest to goodness free range conditions one chicken with no inputs from you will range over up to 25 acres of land. But of course the carrying capacity of that much land is more than just one chicken. Back in the late 40s and early 50s when my Paw Paw raised PASTURED chickens for the supermarkets I never tried to find out so I am unsure, but ten SF per bird is a good place to start. From years and years of experience raising gamefowl i know for a fact that East of the Mississippi river that ONE chicken kept in a 200 square foot area of fertile land with sufficient rain & Sunlight will be unable to kill out ALL of the weebs or grass growing on that parcel of land. I think that there are 43,560 square feet in one acre of ground so that means that you can keep anywhere from 10,000 Plus to 0.04 chickens on an acre of land. Your mileage will vary depending on the inputs (food, water, fertilizer, and grass seed) and how efficiently your chickens convert chicken food & forage into eggs or drumsticks. For turkeys divide by 4 or 5, except multiply 200 square feet by 5 in the 7th line of this reply.

Western Washington state can be arid so figure that into your final equation.

It is incredibly rainy (generally speaking) in western wa, and the grass grows at an uncanny fast pace. Ive found that it holds up pretty well to chickens, so as long as I have healthy grass, I am confident it will work pretty well. Also turns out on our heavier rains, it washes away a lot of that chicken poop, or washes it into the soil itself, so the cleaning is minimal. The sunlight is fairly minimal around here, year round mostly, but something must get through, as the grass sure doesn't mind
looks like im going strong with my # of chickens to acre ratio. Im curious to see how much grass they manage to kill off, if any. that would be ideal!

 

[m1chelle1]

Get the most land you can afford. Hobby farms have a tendency to run out of space real quick. A thousand acres should do you. (Just kidding!) But seriously get as much land as you can afford.

Love this advice! Will do, definitely my goal.

 

[PirateGirl]

Yes! it will, thank you. I was in real estate for a year, during a previous life, so I am very cognazent of these zoning differences. I am not considering anything that is residential zoning, they just wont allow my eventual number of birds. So its Ag zoning. But I have plans to look into exactly what the zoning entails prior to purchase. Im mostly familiar with more ag zoning specifying the # of horses and cattle (in Colorado, anyway) so im curious to see if Wa specifies any specific # of poultry. we will see!

Perfect. Then you understand. I am in Colorado now, and perhaps it's a bit stricter than greener states because water is such a luxury and ag (both crops and animals) are taxing on our arid environment. I'm sure an acre where you are at now can easily sustain more free range birds than an acre here. Good luck! This is an exciting endeavor.

 

[m1chelle1]

Perfect. Then you understand. I am in Colorado now, and perhaps it's a bit stricter than greener states because water is such a luxury and ag (both crops and animals) are taxing on our arid environment. I'm sure an acre where you are at now can easily sustain more free range birds than an acre here. Good luck! This is an exciting endeavor.

Very nice. I loved my time in CO, but Wa is def a much easier choice for free ranging birds. I was worried about the water situation all the time in CO, so I feel for you.
thanks so much, I am super excited about it too!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

When I said Western I ment Eastern Washington State.

 

[m1chelle1]

When I said Western I ment Eastern Washington State.

LOL, yep, ill be on the "other" side

 

[Henrik Petersson]

My chickens like to move over about half an acre, no matter if it's 3 or 23 of them. But they don't move across a perfect circle with the coop in the middle. When the ground is "boring", i.e. lawn, they move further, whereas if it's interesting, that is, forest, they don't move as far (they don't need that to be entertained).

Furthermore, they never seem to want to move more than some 50 yards from the coop. They seem to have an instinct to stay close to their sleeping place.

I do not agree on the usual recommendations for number of chickens per square feet in the coop and run. They are all too small. Sure, chickens can get by in such conditions, and be healthy and live a long life. But it's hardly the area they would move across if they had a say.

For practical reasons, you can't of course have a half-acre pen. But I free range as often as I can.

When I free range, the chickens move around almost all their waking hours. When they are penned up, they mostly stand still. The difference is like night and day. There's no doubt which is the healthiest.

 

[AmazingRachel]

To sustainable free range chickens, the specs are 50-80 chickens per acre of pasture. Do you would need to spread some poultry pasture seeds like this: https://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Forage-Feed-Blend-Non-GMO/dp/B00NLL5Z00

Not sure the specs for turkeys

 

[m1chelle1]

To sustainable free range chickens, the specs are 50-80 chickens per acre of pasture. Do you would need to spread some poultry pasture seeds like this: https://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Forage-Feed-Blend-Non-GMO/dp/B00NLL5Z00

Not sure the specs for turkeys

this is perfect. Ive been looking for good grass to plant for my chickens. It says that takes a few days to sprout and two weeks to be ready. That's great news if I have them on an acre at a time and rotate acres month to month. I could cover any dead spots or holes with extra mix and viola! its grassy again before the get rotate back in!

thanks!