How much land?

[Wolfpacker]

There was a link to this posted in a previous thread:

Chickens usually prefer to do this together and with the same rhythm. The eye of a wild living chicken is focused for a view of five meters to see grains and other small things and for a view of 50 meters to see larger things. That's why chickens do not like to go away from their hen house farther than 50 meters.

http://www.chicken-yard.net/general/behavior.html​

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
Wow - I wanna live there!

 

[glib]

It depends on latitude, and on soil fertility. In Michigan right now there is one foot of snow. How much land do you need in those circumstances?

A better question would be " how much land for greens and supplemental bugs to keep ten chickens in top shape? Assume I give them only grains otherwise". My guess is no more than 5000 sq ft of a good Michigan prairie, probably less. I have an idea of how much grass clippings my yard produces per year, since I rake it all, tarp it and drag it to the compost pile.

 

[digitS']

I had a little fun finding out how much natural habitat is required for Red Junglefowl, the wild ancestors of all domestic chickens. Altho' there's a good deal of hybridization between the junglefowl and domestic flocks, it could be said that these birds, genetically identical to our chickens, are living the life intended for the species.

Collias, N., E. Collias, 1966 found that in an area of north-central India where Red Junglefowl were most common, they were in flocks of about 5 birds ranging over 5 hectares (12.5 acres) of land. (pdf file - 27 pages)

Steve

 

[kstaven]

The 5000 would work if the appropriate grass and grains are growing where you are. If not seeding into what is already there will greatly decrease the area needed. Sprinklers to keep the soil moist and ranging animals to provide fertilizer will also aid in this.

Do some reading on bio dynamic farming. There are some great resources out there concerning chickens and other ranged animals.

Mine will range out about 250 feet max.

 

[paganfish]

I live on 35 acres of land and my birds never go farther than like 50 feet.

Usually, the bantams will explore the extent of the 50 feet. My standards will not go out past 20 feet from their coops. :|

GO figure!

Peace-

Pedro

 

[hoosierhen]

I was wondering whether fencing an area makes a difference as to how far away from the coop a chicken will go?
I read a study once about children on playgrounds. If the playground area was fenced, the children spread out and utilized the whole space. Conversely, if the area was NOT fenced, the children would stay in groups up near the school building. I wonder if this applies to chickens as well?
I currently have a small area near the coop fenced where I can put the chickens on nice weather days. I plan in the spring to fence a large area for them. If they will only go a certain distance from their coop, I don't see any reason to make it too big.

 

[earthnut]

5000 sqft?! That's kind of amazing, for some reason, to me. That's the size of my city lot, and I didn't think that that was anywhere near big enough not for them to still be eating mostly feed. But I suppose if it was intensively managed...

The junglefowl data is very interesting. I would think that in the wild, a flock would pick over an area pretty well, then move on to a fresh pasture.

As for specifics, I really have no idea - this is merely a thought exercise since I live in the city. I was mainly just curious, so all the variations and possibilities are interesting to me!

It doesn't get terribly cold here - we get a day or two of snow every year. There seems to be a flock of feral chickens that live near me. Someone may feed them though.

 

[digitS']

With the consumer's interest in "free-range" poultry there's been some research done on trying to get broilers to "range" - - at all. The modern broiler obviously wasn't bred for any kind of travel except in a truck to the processing plants.

Once consumers began to be aware that few of the birds were coming out for more than a few feet onto what might well be asphalt - the designation "free-range" became rather laughable. The industry began to fret about how they could actually get more of the birds to come out of the houses and actually "do something!!"

The junglefowl live under a forest canopy for the most part. One chicken requirement is some kind of sheltering - they simply didn't like to be in an exposed environment. Hoosierhen, you are probably correct that fencing would encourage the birds to move a little farther if they felt the fence sheltered them somewhat.

Steve

 

[skeeter]

maybe alot depends on the breed of chicken my aunt and uncle had an old game bird cross hen that just showed up ond day and the nearest house was a quarter mile away.she would go all over the place then show up in the evening to eat out of the cats food,and the cats ran when she came in,she was around there for a couple years then something got her,I think maybe a hawk or an owl