Howdy!
I live on a farm in a very rural area of Texas and have had chickens for 19 years. Mine are 100% free-range and they completely replace themselves naturally by reproducing massively every winter. Right now there are 3 batches of new chicks and 3 batches of older chicks. I just let the hens raise them, running around outside with the cats and dogs and varmints. They have no coops or barns or yards for protection, it is simply survival of the fittest. They THRIVE this way! The chicks are athlectic and quick-witted and know their momma's voice well. I toss a little feed out when I feed my goats, to get the chickens and other poultry out of the way and keep them happy in the winter. The droves of chicks come rushing and get underfoot and mix all together. It is unreal. Then they disperse back to their moms and go about their business. Oh, I could go on!
My flock is my own strain of chicken, that I have worked with for years. Very hardy and smart. I guess there are 60-75 chickens, not sure as some of the roosters have taken up with whatever hens would follow them out to live in the woods. I see these flocks now and then when I toss corn chops out that way. I am way heavy on roosters because of the way nature replaces chickens, with half the flock being male chicks at some point. I can't butcher or sell them as fast as they are born. So I usually have about 25 roosters or more easily. I cull and cull. My flock improves each year. I bring in no new stock. it is truly my line of chickens. They started from Murrey McMurrey's Rarest of the Rare Poultry Collection and 3 Phoenix Long Tailed Roosters back in 1991. The tough survived and reproduced and this is what I have now. They have converted back to jungle fowl almost. They have become almost uniform in appearance.
The only chick losses I take are from them drowning in waterers. i put sticks in the goat and dog bowls and the chicks use those to hop out of the waterers. But if the sicks get knocked out by a larger animal, a chick may get in there and drown. Doesn't happen oftem, but i would have an almost 100% survival rate on my free-range chicks if they didn't occasionally drown. They will even run around on thick ice during an ice storm, slipping and slidding, little day old or week old chicks, with no adverse affects, as long as momma is there to run up under every few minutes and as long as I toss them a bit of feed every few hours while they are newborns. But they have 90 acres to scrounge for food on so they don't need much feed in the summer. Not many chicks in the summer though, way too hot in Texas plus fire ants get them.
I found this site by googling.
I have dairy goats, LaManchas and MiniManchas. Also a few Boers and crosses. We have 10 donkeys and 2 horses. Also, 3 Bourbon Reds, 1 Wild Turkey hen just showed up, 1 0ld Muscovie drake, 1 old guinea, 1 peahen just showed up and 2 peahens given to me (all green).
5 dogs and way too many cats.
The dogs and cats totally leave the newly hatched chicks alone and they can even be drinking out of the same waterer at the same time and no one gets eaten.
Great Pyrenees dogs protect my flock from predatory birds and I have no losses.
I live with my husband of many years and we have 4 grown children and 4 grandchildren
I live on a farm in a very rural area of Texas and have had chickens for 19 years. Mine are 100% free-range and they completely replace themselves naturally by reproducing massively every winter. Right now there are 3 batches of new chicks and 3 batches of older chicks. I just let the hens raise them, running around outside with the cats and dogs and varmints. They have no coops or barns or yards for protection, it is simply survival of the fittest. They THRIVE this way! The chicks are athlectic and quick-witted and know their momma's voice well. I toss a little feed out when I feed my goats, to get the chickens and other poultry out of the way and keep them happy in the winter. The droves of chicks come rushing and get underfoot and mix all together. It is unreal. Then they disperse back to their moms and go about their business. Oh, I could go on!
My flock is my own strain of chicken, that I have worked with for years. Very hardy and smart. I guess there are 60-75 chickens, not sure as some of the roosters have taken up with whatever hens would follow them out to live in the woods. I see these flocks now and then when I toss corn chops out that way. I am way heavy on roosters because of the way nature replaces chickens, with half the flock being male chicks at some point. I can't butcher or sell them as fast as they are born. So I usually have about 25 roosters or more easily. I cull and cull. My flock improves each year. I bring in no new stock. it is truly my line of chickens. They started from Murrey McMurrey's Rarest of the Rare Poultry Collection and 3 Phoenix Long Tailed Roosters back in 1991. The tough survived and reproduced and this is what I have now. They have converted back to jungle fowl almost. They have become almost uniform in appearance.
The only chick losses I take are from them drowning in waterers. i put sticks in the goat and dog bowls and the chicks use those to hop out of the waterers. But if the sicks get knocked out by a larger animal, a chick may get in there and drown. Doesn't happen oftem, but i would have an almost 100% survival rate on my free-range chicks if they didn't occasionally drown. They will even run around on thick ice during an ice storm, slipping and slidding, little day old or week old chicks, with no adverse affects, as long as momma is there to run up under every few minutes and as long as I toss them a bit of feed every few hours while they are newborns. But they have 90 acres to scrounge for food on so they don't need much feed in the summer. Not many chicks in the summer though, way too hot in Texas plus fire ants get them.
I found this site by googling.
I have dairy goats, LaManchas and MiniManchas. Also a few Boers and crosses. We have 10 donkeys and 2 horses. Also, 3 Bourbon Reds, 1 Wild Turkey hen just showed up, 1 0ld Muscovie drake, 1 old guinea, 1 peahen just showed up and 2 peahens given to me (all green).
5 dogs and way too many cats.
The dogs and cats totally leave the newly hatched chicks alone and they can even be drinking out of the same waterer at the same time and no one gets eaten.
Great Pyrenees dogs protect my flock from predatory birds and I have no losses.
I live with my husband of many years and we have 4 grown children and 4 grandchildren
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