Keeping Chickens Free Range

[duluthralphie]

Nest on ground in field lower risk. Chickens do not naturally nest in tree holes for a reason. Domestic birds doing so in part selection for laying in confining nest boxes under very protected conditions which can be less than smart when outside the protected perimter. Lights and high daytime human traffic does not afford protection at night. The free-range stuff I do to an extreme for a long time with lots of birds.

Me too. On the free range. We will just have to disagree again. I love the spot. Maybe chickens could get by with less eggs if an ancestor of the modern chicken had decided to find such a good hiding place.

 

[BruceAZ]

my chickens are outdoor 24/7.. but in a run

i'll let them out of the run in the evening when i clean out the run/coop and refill the feeders

so 5 chickens roaming the backyard ... for about 40-60 minutes each day

so can i call it free range? or maybe not ?

they ate most of my grass....

 

[duluthralphie]

my chickens are outdoor 24/7.. but in a run

i'll let them out of the run in the evening when i clean out the run/coop and refill the feeders

so 5 chickens roaming the backyard . for about 40-60 minutes each day

so can i call it free range? or maybe not ?

they ate most of my grass....

To me that is not free range. Mine are out 12-14 hours a day. I am not sure that is really free range. My turkeys never go inside, they are free range (except during breeding season when I lock them into cages to get the mixes I want.)

 

[BruceAZ]

To me that is not free range. Mine are out 12-14 hours a day. I am not sure that is really free range. My turkeys never go inside, they are free range (except during breeding season when I lock them into cages to get the mixes I want.)

the definition of free range is pretty sketchy imo..

since USDA stated that free range is "access to the outside" and that's about it .. ?

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal...food-labeling/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms

it's not just here but in other countries as well..

 

[duluthralphie]

It sure is sketchy. I think it is a fraud to claim a bird that can see the outdoors once in a while is "free range" Just as much as to put 10,000 chickens in a building with no room to move is called "cage" free.

And then there is the "official" definition of "organic"....

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I am going to refrain from weighing in too heavily on this subject, as I obviously feel a bit strongly about it...But yes I agree with you both, these definitions are too weak and tend to allow less then honest farms to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers. Did you know you can feed grass fed cattle corn by product?

 

[lazy gardener]

Hello new to the thread but have had chickens for a while all free range.

Welcome to BYC... UM... You sure do have nice looking chickens... But... some of them are pretty strange looking!

 

[hywy petrol]

I let my first two chickens free range and the hawks or coyotes got two good meals. Now I use a coop and made a chicken run. I would love to let them out I like to watch them but don't like finding just a pile of feathers instead of my chickens.

 

[BruceAZ]

I am going to refrain from weighing in too heavily on this subject, as I obviously feel a bit strongly about it...But yes I agree with you both, these definitions are too weak and tend to allow less then honest farms to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers. Did you know you can feed grass fed cattle corn by product?

at first i didn't know about feeds. so i thought it was pretty cheap

by products..

a 40lb bag of layer feed is only $12 at wal-mart..

then there's organic feed with corn , soy, canola $30 for 30lb bag

and there's organic feed, non-gmo with NO corn, soy, canola. $27.45 for 50lb bag (buyer club)

there are variety of prices.

there's a local farm here that will seel a dozen free range eggs for $5.

free range eggs -- do not meant that it's organic right?

so how much it will cost for a dozen Organic Free Range eggs ? or is there such a thing as organic free range eggs?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I am going to refrain from weighing in too heavily on this subject, as I obviously feel a bit strongly about it...But yes I agree with you both, these definitions are too weak and tend to allow less then honest farms to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers. Did you know you can feed grass fed cattle corn by product?

at first i didn't know about feeds. so i thought it was pretty cheap

by products..

a 40lb bag of layer feed is only $12 at wal-mart..

then there's organic feed with corn , soy, canola  $30 for 30lb bag

and there's organic feed, non-gmo with NO corn, soy, canola.  $27.45 for 50lb bag (buyer club)

there are variety of prices.

there's a local farm here that will seel a dozen free range eggs for $5.

free range eggs -- do not meant that it's organic right?

so how much it will cost for a dozen Organic Free Range eggs ? or is there such a thing as organic free range eggs?

No free range does not mean Organic. I do not certify my chickens, so I do not know the specific rules for Organic eggs.
However one large problem I foresee with organic free range birds is you cannot control the insects. It is the same problem faced by beekeepers. Bees have a range of three miles, so unless you havea giant swath of organic land there is no such thing as organic honey.
I do not know the range of each insect but I imagine most have a large enough range to make organic free range impossible. I have a fully organic farm, so for my own use I am confident in my own eggs and chicken meat that freerange is not a issue for me. That said I do have commercial farmers as neighbors.
I feed my birds (in the winter) left over grains, organ meat, and they always have a non GMO feed available. I buy the feed from the guy we buy our organic seed from, i think it is the gleanings. He sells it for $18 a bag.