Keeping Chickens Free Range

[vpatt]

Here is a link regarding Giardia, beaver fever. I am not going to comment on the validity of the article but it is interesting. I really do not know.


http://archive.tamaracksong.org/view.html?page=Beaver Fever - The Truth about Giardia.htm&

I know as kids we drank the river water. We had a small river through our farm, the source of the river was about 40 miles north of here. The river ran through farm land with people farming right up to the edge of the bank.  Cattle roamed the river further north. We never gave it a second thought back then. Grandpa used to tell us as long as the water was flowing fast it was safe.

Of course, we did all kinds of things now considered wrong. We had less allergies, less sickness and seemed healthier.  v I think our food supply is  "TOO" sterile now days. Maybe it was an illusion, who knows.

I kind of live by the axiom. "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".  



BTW   I build fish out houses every 200 yards along the river bank now!~

Interesting. The Aztec Quickstep.....lol.

 

[Free Feather]

I have a few questions?

If you had 40 chickens last summer on your land and are going to have 17 this year, what is the worry? Where is the problem? Even if the pullet hatches all 15 eggs you will have less this year?

Do you eat any of the chickens? That will lower the actual number.

Do the fish poop in the creek?

How close is the creek to the chickens? Distance matters.

Is there a boggy or swampy area before the runoff gets to the creek? Bogs and swamp will utilize a lot of extra nitrogen.

Personally I would worry more about phosphates than nitrogen.

What type of soil do you have? Sand, loam, clay etc.

What is the topography, rolling flat, slight slope, etc.

If you have plants growing on the land especially grasses they will use up the nitrogen almost as fast as it breaks down in the poop. Grass grows better with manure, most plants do.

Why are you worried about the game commission? Are the birds invading government land?

The chickens will scratch the ground, eating bugs, and depositing manure/fertilizer, the bugs will eat the nutrients, the grass will absorb it, making a cycle of life.

If the land becomes denuded, and the scratching causes washouts or if the topsoil all washes away you have too many.


How much of the time are the birds in a pen or the coop? That is poop that you collect and compost.

I dump my chicken manure on my rhubarb, and let it compost right there. It makes great rhubarb. Once I have enough there I pile it on the edge of my field and haul it back to my garden to be worked into the soil. I wish I had more manure to work into a bigger area, so my soil was more productive.


Without us knowing all those variables, there is no way we can answer your questions. We each have to come from our own frame of reference, and they are not the same as yours. Without trying to cause an argument, your view point on "man made global warming" will effect your choices.

More nitrogen helping greens grow faster using and locking up more CO2, or more plants dying releasing more CO2.

Driving your car to town may cause more damage than your chickens do. Emissions from your home heating plant are most likely more dangerous than 40 chickens. Even your own biological waste, is more hazardous in my opinion.


Sorry to throw water on your question, but it seemed you wanted us to answer in a certain way, agreeing with you or confirming your beliefs, which we really cannot do without all the information, and I am sure I missed some of the things we need to know.

So in conclusion, using my point of reference, 40 chickens will cause no or minimal damage, so get another 100, chicken math at work!

I meant I will have 17 chickens instead of 23, I will still have all twelve ducks. 29 total.
I do not eat the chickens.
I assume the fish crap in the creek.
The creek is really close. That is why I worry about the Game Commission. I have heard they will evict all of your animals if the phosphate? Nitrate? levels are high down stream from your animals.
Not boggy near coop. In other places, but not by the coop.
We have loamy, dark clay.
Sloped, toward the back of the property towards the woods and other parts of the creek.
Lots of grass, trees, and the like in our yard. The soil is good and we are sort of wet.
The birds are free range. I collect what is in the coop and compost it away from the water.
I cover the ground in hay, raked leaves, grass clippings, garden scraps, and the like. I make sure it is not bare.
I do not yet drive a car. Our house is heated with a wood stove, and that is not my choice. I am aware of how harmful my waste is, but short of killing myself I cannot help that.
The grass around the creek is high and healthy, not bare. I plan on very heavily gardening all around the yard and near the creek in the hopes it will catch runoff.
I did not wish for anyone to confirm or agree with me, I wanted an honest answer of how many I should have. With this information, can someone tell me? Please?

 

[duluthralphie]

I meant I will have 17 chickens instead of 23, I will still have all twelve ducks. 29 total.
I do not eat the chickens.So the total birds will be 23. I assume ducks will swim in creek.
I assume the fish crap in the creek.
The creek is really close. That is why I worry about the Game Commission. I have heard they will evict all of your animals if the phosphate? Nitrate? levels are high down stream from your animals. I have not heard of this in our area, but it seems feasible.
Not boggy near coop. In other places, but not by the coop.
boggy is good eats up nitrates.
We have loamy, dark clay.
Not so good. More run off with clay than sand.
Sloped, toward the back of the property towards the woods and other parts of the creek
This is good, it is not a direct shot to creek, the longer the run off area the better..
Lots of grass, trees, and the like in our yard. The soil is good and we are sort of wet.
I think this is a mixed bag, grass and trees eat up nitrates, wet means the ground does not absorb it as well.
The birds are free range. I collect what is in the coop and compost it away from the water.
Good.
I cover the ground in hay, raked leaves, grass clippings, garden scraps, and the like. I make sure it is not bare.
Not as good as growing green plants but better than leaving the ground bare.
I do not yet drive a car. Our house is heated with a wood stove, and that is not my choice. I am aware of how harmful my waste is, but short of killing myself I cannot help that.
What I meant was human waste is more of a problem than chicken waste, because of what we eat and how we digest it.
The grass around the creek is high and healthy, not bare. I plan on very heavily gardening all around the yard and near the creek in the hopes it will catch runoff.
This is good.
I did not wish for anyone to confirm or agree with me, I wanted an honest answer of how many I should have. With this information, can someone tell me? Please?
I will stay with my original number, I think 40 is fine I would go for a 100 and try to force them to graze a larger area. I would watch the creek to see I do not change the water quality, monitoring for excess algae growth.

 

[Free Feather]

Do they make easily accessible water testers, ones that would tell you nitrogen and phosphates?
I have read that 200 hens will cause cereal grains to fail in growth, 100 is okay with night droppings disposed elsewhere. So if I have the night droppings on this soil, even composted, I figured 50. I have read so many ranged numbers and it is stressing me out. I am just going to try to not go over 40. Try. I also, like I said, plan on gardening heavily all around. I was hoping I would have some left for me, vegetables and such. I do not mind kicked mulch.
Your estimation of 100 is reassuring. I have pretty varied plant life around here. Woods, pasture and hay grasses (we used to have horses, crap=seeds everywhere), real tall weedy stuff, all different kinds of wildflowers, and the gardens. I was hoping it would keep their scratching interest more evenly dispersed, having a bunch to choose from.

 

[vpatt]

Here is a link regarding Giardia, beaver fever. I am not going to comment on the validity of the article but it is interesting. I really do not know.


http://archive.tamaracksong.org/view.html?page=Beaver Fever - The Truth about Giardia.htm&

I know as kids we drank the river water. We had a small river through our farm, the source of the river was about 40 miles north of here. The river ran through farm land with people farming right up to the edge of the bank.  Cattle roamed the river further north. We never gave it a second thought back then. Grandpa used to tell us as long as the water was flowing fast it was safe.

Of course, we did all kinds of things now considered wrong. We had less allergies, less sickness and seemed healthier.  v I think our food supply is  "TOO" sterile now days. Maybe it was an illusion, who knows.

I kind of live by the axiom. "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".  



BTW   I build fish out houses every 200 yards along the river bank now!~

Every 200 yds? Hmmmm......

 

[Free Feather]

Free feather - are you getting a great deal of run off after rain? Are the edges of the crick denuded of vegetation? If not, then the water pollution should not be a problem.

As for the nitrogen build up, compost old bedding and incorporate it into your garden. When you say they did not really bother the garden, how old were they? One year I brooded chicks in my garden, they had a grand time, sleeping under the beans and eating grasshoppers, but once they got big, mine will dig a garden up in less time that a rototiller.

Mrs K

I had them in there in the day time to play as babies, and even up until now at ten months.

 

[K Epp]

Free Feather
I'm sure I missed it somewhere, but how big is the property the chickens and ducks are on?


How big is the creek? Width? Depth?

What part of the country are you in? I cant see from my phone.

Suburb, rural, wilderness?

I have 5 ducks and a goose on 3 acres with 2 small creeks. They make a much bigger mess than the 75 chickens, 3 goats, and turkey.

 

[duluthralphie]

Free Feather
I'm sure I missed it somewhere, but how big is the property the chickens and ducks are on?


How big is the creek? Width? Depth?

What part of the country are you in? I cant see from my phone.

Suburb, rural, wilderness?

I have 5 ducks and a goose on 3 acres with 2 small creeks. They make a much bigger mess than the 75 chickens, 3 goats, and turkey.

X2!!!!

I had 6 geese that made more of a mess than 150 chickens, a dozen turkeys and 15 guineas!

I never had a happier day than when some guy bought them (the geese) from me at a loss!

 

[hennible]

Sorry I have to ask... How are geese so messy? What is it they do?

 

[Free Feather]

Free Feather
I'm sure I missed it somewhere, but how big is the property the chickens and ducks are on?


How big is the creek? Width? Depth?

What part of the country are you in? I cant see from my phone.

Suburb, rural, wilderness?

I have 5 ducks and a goose on 3 acres with 2 small creeks. They make a much bigger mess than the 75 chickens, 3 goats, and turkey.

The property is an acre. No geese, but there are twelve ducks. The creek is 3 feet wide and a foot and a half deep at its narrowest, and six or seven feet wide and mid-thigh at its deepest. The ducks more frequently play in the smaller part. The water does not look ukky, but you really cannot see nitrogen anyhow. I am in Pennsylvania, in a pretty rural area. There is one neighbor right beside us, but everyone else is too far away to see from the house. Woods.