Keeping Chickens Free Range

[jenniferlamar70]

That's your opinion and you have a right to it.  I feel differently.  I manage my flock differently, so I give advice based on those methods as it's the only advice I have to give.  You asked, I gave.  It's up to you to take it or leave it. 

For instance... I received 5 cockerels the other day for free from an ad in the papers.  Looked healthy but very thin and looked as if they hadn't had the best of care.  Dusted them and oiled up their legs and turned them loose.  One started isolating himself from the flock, standing around or lying around...that went on for a few days. 

I have a  2 day rule...if the bird doesn't look like it's suffering but just seems a little off, I let them work it out for a few days.  Since they isolate their own selves from the flock, it's the same as if one were to put them in a cage but just less stressful.  After a few days of that and no signs of his recovering from whatever ailed him, I dislocated his neck and fed him to the predators.  No need to keep a sick acting bird hanging around, feeling uncomfortable and displaying a faulty immune system...why wait until he sickens further and dies? 

That's how I handle any potential illness that is introduced into the flock.  That's worked most excellent for 40 yrs now and I've never had an outbreak of illness in any flock I've managed. 

If you knew how pathogens work in the body you'd know that by the time a bird is showing symptoms of illness, all your flock has likely already been exposed to the same pathogen if they are living, sleeping and eating together~there is an incubation period for most bacterial and viral infections and it's usually from 4 days to 2 wks.  Isolating him after he shows symptoms doesn't mean the same thing that's made him sick will not affect the rest of your flock.  If you are depending on that method to control disease, it's a day late, dollar short kind of move.  You call it being responsible, I call it futile and needless. 

Building good immune systems in the flock and only keeping the most healthy, fit birds down through the years insures the flock stays healthy no matter what illness they may be exposed to.  Keeping an obviously sick bird hanging around is~to me~irresponsible on many levels...what good is he if his immune system is so weak he contracts illness?  What future does he have if he is prone to contracting disease?  Will he sicken again if you treat him for this illness?  Why keep a potential disease vector hanging around in the flock?  What's the whole purpose of it in regards to the health of the whole flock?  One needs to ask these questions if wanting to have healthy flocks down through the years.   

I don't know if anyone has ever told you but your a bit antagonistic. I respect your advice but if I was just going to cull the bird I wouldn't ask for help. I don't keep my birds the same way and I was told by the vet to seperate them when you first see signs like this. I doubt my vet is going to steer me wrong. My birds are pets with benefits. We love them and care for them that way. You have every right to keep your chickens however you want but you can't look down on someone else because they have chose a different way then you. Asking why I isolated my bird was really none of your business. The only reason you wanted to know was so you could put down my method and argue about it. So hopefully you could see why that might offend me...

More is always better, honestly. The ones I have seem to do ok in their little pods of 2/3/4 per male; there are a few that seem content with just one buddy. I do have a good number of girls that will give it right back to the boys if they aren't in the mood, so that helps. Out of that number, I have 5 or 6 large fowl boys {all roos less one cockerel that needs to stop being so obnoxious}, and that helps, too. But I am out with them every day and watch the dynamic for issues.

Ok thank you so much. I to am out everyday with my flock so far they all get along well. That can always change as I'm sure you know. I'll keep a close eye on them and watch but I'm hoping I have as much luck as you.

 

[Beekissed]

More is always better...I agree. The issue is not so much will the roosters get along, but how many times will a particular hen be mated in a day's time? Will this cause wear on her body and the feathers that cover it and protect it? How much stress will it put on her to be mated that often and will it affect her health and her laying abilities?

Some hens that are less fertile or not laying at all at the moment may not get mated at all during these times, while the girls that are laying the most are mated the most frequently...so you can have 10 hens per rooster but that doesn't mean his mating efforts will be spread over that number evenly....it could mean he will be mating the same few birds over and over and over to fulfill his needs. Then, if you have other roosters getting in on that action, you have a small handful of hens getting too much wear and tear on their bodies.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I wasn't trying to be antagonistic nor trying to put down anyone's methods. I'm sorry if you saw that in my posts. It won't happen again. For the record, I asked about why you were confining the bird because I didn't know your reasoning behind it....I only knew he had thrown up once and passed the hard object, there was nothing in the post to indicate he was still acting sick.

 

[Tikkijane]

More is always better...I agree.  The issue is not so much will the roosters get along, but how many times will a particular hen be mated in a day's time?  Will this cause wear on her body and the feathers that cover it and protect it?  How much stress will it put on her to be mated that often and will it affect her health and her laying abilities?  

Some hens that are less fertile or not laying at all at the moment may not get mated at all during these times, while the girls that are laying the most are mated the most frequently...so you can have 10 hens per rooster but that doesn't mean his mating efforts will be spread over that number evenly....it could mean he will be mating the same few birds over and over and over to fulfill his needs.  Then, if you have other roosters getting in on that action, you have a small handful of hens getting too much wear and tear on their bodies. 

Yep. Which is why the dynamic is important. I give a little bit of leeway in the spring with the cockerels, but not much. We've done aprons, which helped some. Usually the ones being randy are also the ones who want to spar more, too. If they don't settle, they go to freezer camp.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I wasn't trying to be antagonistic nor trying to put down anyone's methods.   I'm sorry if you saw that in my posts.  It won't happen again.  For the record, I asked about why you were confining the bird because I didn't know your reasoning behind it....I only knew he had thrown up once and passed the hard object, there was nothing in the post to indicate he was still acting sick. 

Probably just miscommunication again. We seem to be good at that lol. It's been a rough night for me. Definitely been stressing about my roo. He seems to be doing a little better now. Still wobbly on his feet. I think he got into something he shouldn't have...

Yep. Which is why the dynamic is important. I give a little bit of leeway in the spring with the cockerels, but not much. We've done aprons, which helped some. Usually the ones being randy are also the ones who want to spar more, too. If they don't settle, they go to freezer camp.

Any aggressive or ones mistreating my hens will have a one way ticket to freezer camp as well. Right now I'm worried about them fighting just because we have a bunch of cockerels getting ready to come into age. You know how that goes... my old wise guy is going to be removed to a coop so no leader to keep the boys in check right now. I'm working on adding some more pullets but I don't want to get just randoms. We are working towards patucular breeds.

 

[slordaz]

What people need to realize is people do what works for them, they are more than willing to share their experience, but you have to find what will work for you because we all do things our own way and what our flocks do, persons locations, flock make up all sorts of things have to be factored in, There are many ways to get the same result you want you decide what works best for your particular situation, Beekissed and a lot of these people have a great amount of klnowledge,

 

[jenniferlamar70]

What people need to realize is people do what works for them, they are more than willing to share their experience, but you have to find what will work for you because we all do things our own way and what our flocks do, persons locations, flock make up all sorts of things have to be factored in, There are many ways to get the same result you want you decide what works best for your particular situation, Beekissed and a lot of these people have a great amount of klnowledge,

I don't disagree with this but sometimes you just want advice on specific things. I don't want every post I make to be a debate. Or me having to explain why I keep my birds how I do. Just really worried about the one and trying to narrow down what could be wrong. If someone doesn't take the time or even treat there birds if something is wrong why respond to my question. I hate always having to explain myself.. I don't mean that in a rude way either. I know it's hard to see what I mean in writing but it can be exhausting having to defend my methods everytime I share or ask something...

 

[rschunk]

Seems like this thread got a bit off topic, so I'll mention this....I read a lot of threads on free range before I attempted it last week. Most said the chickens should return to the coop at night and would lay in their usual place.

Well, I turned mine out on Monday....they were all over the yard....evening, 4 came back into the coop and 4 did not. Since then I've been chasing the 4 that didn't...they are quick little things...I finally bought a long handled fish net. Caught them on the roost about 4am. Got two that way. One made the mistake of going into my live animal trap I'd baited with cracked corn. The last one is learning and as soon as I come into the coop area in the barn, she takes off...

Reset the trap this morning with a lot of corn and a bowl of water....we'll see what happens, but all told, they won't be free ranging again. Oh, and my egg production dropped from 6-7 a day to 3-4.

I hope the one that is outside is the one that hasn't been producing regularly. I wouldn't feel so bad losing it if that is the case.

 

[Beekissed]

Seems like this thread got a bit off topic, so I'll mention this....I read a lot of threads on free range before I attempted it last week. Most said the chickens should return to the coop at night and would lay in their usual place.

Well, I turned mine out on Monday....they were all over the yard....evening, 4 came back into the coop and 4 did not. Since then I've been chasing the 4 that didn't...they are quick little things...I finally bought a long handled fish net. Caught them on the roost about 4am. Got two that way. One made the mistake of going into my live animal trap I'd baited with cracked corn. The last one is learning and as soon as I come into the coop area in the barn, she takes off...

Reset the trap this morning with a lot of corn and a bowl of water....we'll see what happens, but all told, they won't be free ranging again. Oh, and my egg production dropped from 6-7 a day to 3-4.

I hope the one that is outside is the one that hasn't been producing regularly. I wouldn't feel so bad losing it if that is the case.

Questions....how long had these chickens been living in that coop/location? How old are the birds? What time of evening were you expecting them to return to the coop? What kind or type of range~how large and what features~ were they ranging in? How long did you try this experiment of ranging?

 

[rschunk]

Chickens have been in the coop since April 2015. That would make them about 16 months old.
They are Barred Plymouth Rocks.

The range was around the house and barn. We live on 20 acres. The barn is along a fence line on a 5 acre hayfield.

The house and barn are surrounded by woods on three sides.

I was expecting them to return in the evening so I left open the gate in the outside coop fence for their return. They go inside the barn in the evening and I drop a door over the small entrance to keep out predators.

When I go out to close the door, I feed them. So they know where they get fed. If that makes a difference..