Is this chicken area big enough?

[FC16]

My main flock are Golden Barnevelders. I keep a couple silkies. I have given up on trying to raise them. I will let the hens that I have left. Live out their days sitting eggs and raising chicks til their hearts content. My daughter talked me into letting her have a Brahma. I also raise different varieties of Old English and American Game bantams. Plus a few varieties of American Game fowl.

Love barnevelders I can’t have many chickens as I have limited space and when I first set out I bought hybrids for egg laying. Wish I had pure breeds now, but can’t bring myself to get rid of my hybrids now

 

[Silexian]

Love barnevelders I can’t have many chickens as I have limited space and when I first set out I bought hybrids for egg laying. Wish I had pure breeds now, but can’t bring myself to get rid of my hybrids now

They fit very well on our homestead, while also being in my opinion a quite attractive bird. When I got them they were not very popular in my area. I wanted a dual purpose heritage breed, but not the Barred Rock, Buff Orpington and Rhode Island Reds. Like just about everyone around here has. I had production reds as egg layers for years. Which pale in comparison to ISA Browns. I have learned with proper management. Heritage breeds can provide a steady supply of eggs. Like myself, a lot of people are wanting to be less reliant on an unpredictable supply chain. Which has created a good market for my Barnies and their eggs.

 

[Shadrach]

Every day is a learning experience. Looks like I need to sell off my cattle and horses. So my 100 chickens can have the run of my entire farm. I wasn’t aware that ten acres is not enough space for them. Just look at how they have destroyed the landscape.

"An appropriate run area is of a size that the chickens cannot strip."
I think you should be alright judging from the picture.
Do you disagree with the sentence in quotes above?

 

[FC16]

They fit very well on our homestead, while also being in my opinion a quite attractive bird. When I got them they were not very popular in my area. I wanted a dual purpose heritage breed, but not the Barred Rock, Buff Orpington and Rhode Island Reds. Like just about everyone around here has. I had production reds as egg layers for years. Which pale in comparison to ISA Browns. I have learned with proper management. Heritage breeds can provide a steady supply of eggs. Like myself, a lot of people are wanting to be less reliant on an unpredictable supply chain. Which has created a good market for my Barnies and their eggs.

I’d agree they are a very nice looking bird, wouldn’t mind a couple myself. See I fell into the trap of getting great egg laying birds, now I’m overloaded with eggs, and really I’d like to have some broodys in spring but is highly unlikely with these hybrids.

 

[FC16]

"An appropriate run area is of a size that the chickens cannot strip."
I think you should be alright judging from the picture.
Do you disagree with the sentence in quotes above?

Well the area I have for my chickens was already stripped of grass, they like to forage in the soil for worms and other insects, as mentioned they also get regularly given fruit, veg and other foods.

 

[Silexian]

"An appropriate run area is of a size that the chickens cannot strip."
I think you should be alright judging from the picture.
Do you disagree with the sentence in quotes above?

"An appropriate run area is of a size that the chickens cannot strip."
I think you should be alright judging from the picture.
Do you disagree with the sentence in quotes above?

I strongly disagree that an acre is needed for every two chickens. I guess if you put no planning into your set up and do not supplement them with any feed. Yes maybe then. You can do with chickens like many do with cattle, sheep and horses. Or a chicken tractor. Set up a rotational grazing system. I use step in plastic post and either electrified poultry netting or just light welded wire. When they start putting to much stress on one area. I move them off of that area and move them to a regrown area. I give each area time to recoup and regrow. Agriculture is a thinking person’s game. No matter how large or small the scale. You gotta spend money wisely, use your material and natural resources the best you can with being detrimental and not be lazy in the care of your animals.

 

[Shadrach]

I strongly disagree that an acre is needed for every two chickens. I guess if you put no planning into your set up and do not supplement them with any feed. Yes maybe then. You can do with chickens like many do with cattle, sheep and horses. Or a chicken tractor. Set up a rotational grazing system. I use step in plastic post and either electrified poultry netting or just light welded wire. When they start putting to much stress on one area. I move them off of that area and move them to a regrown area. I give each area time to recoup and regrow. Agriculture is a thinking person’s game. No matter how large or small the scale. You gotta spend money wisely, use your material and natural resources the best you can with being detrimental and not be lazy in the care of your animals.

The reason I mentioned the acre per breeding pair wasn't so much to illustrate the food resources required, more to illustrate the point that the chickens self boundry of approximately an acre may give some idea of how big an area a chicken considers to be adequate.
For most I think the consensous is one should provide chickens with as much space as you can.
There are as you point out, numerous options to avoid resource depletion providing one has the room. In the space the OP shows in their post, tractors and plot subdivisions don't look to be a realistic option to me.
(it looks to me from your picture that your chickens free range and you post you have plenty of room)
If thing look tight now then I think I'll stick by my comment against getting any more chickens.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Every day is a learning experience. Looks like I need to sell off my cattle and horses. So my 100 chickens can have the run of my entire farm. I wasn’t aware that ten acres is not enough space for them. Just look at how they have destroyed the landscape.

If you've peeked at the pictures in the "my Acres of Weeds" thread, you know how much I'd like to have your "destroyed" landscape. Since I have half your birds, maybe I need to finish clearing the woods I have within the electric fence, expand the pasture from 1.75 acres to almost 5?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The reason I mentioned the acre per breeding pair wasn't so much to illustrate the food resources required, more to illustrate the point that the chickens self boundry of approximately an acre may give some idea of how big an area a chicken considers to be adequate.

I don't think that's quite right, but I think you are perhaps closely orthagonal to something I've observed, but couldn't previously explain - which I'd not seen addressed before.

My flock is in my sig, below, about 50 birds. Two handfuls are males, roughly seven are adult "breeders". That leaves close to fourty females. During the day, the various breeding males leave the house/run and spread across my property, then begin crowing to attract "their" flock of females to "their" area. Each has between 2 and 6 girls that usually are in close proximity - almost as if I have more than a handful of small flocks. The distance between the birds is around 200, 250 feet - almost as if each is claiming roughly an acre for themselves, with the center of their range being anywhere from maybe 125 to 300 feet from my barn (and their houses).

I'll have to give more thought on your "self boundary" proposal, but its a better fit for my observations than anything else I've seen offered.

It doesn't, however, appear to have much to do with the capacity of that space to support a given number of chickens. Most of my birds have picked locations in my woods, rather than the far more productive pasture, as center of their range.

 

[Silexian]

The reason I mentioned the acre per breeding pair wasn't so much to illustrate the food resources required, more to illustrate the point that the chickens self boundry of approximately an acre may give some idea of how big an area a chicken considers to be adequate.
For most I think the consensous is one should provide chickens with as much space as you can.
There are as you point out, numerous options to avoid resource depletion providing one has the room. In the space the OP shows in their post, tractors and plot subdivisions don't look to be a realistic option to me.
(it looks to me from your picture that your chickens free range and you post you have plenty of room)
If thing look tight now then I think I'll stick by my comment against getting any more chickens.

I agree that the area pictured in the main post is small. It can also use some improvements. What you are using as a basis for your statement. Is like comparing domestic turkeys to wild turkeys. Which is not an apples to apples comparison. Where as a wild turkey needs and has a large expanse to support itself. It also still has all the attributes to explore its territory and escape predators. A domestic turkey no longer has those means. Therefore it no longer needs to have a large territory.