Keeping Chickens Free Range

[OrganicFarmWife]

You mean pesticide drift? Yes that is an issue. The certifiers require us to keep so many feet buffer between our fields and conventional farmers fields. And each neighbor signs a contract agreeing not to spray on windy days. But pesticide drift is very hard to keep away from.
We actually have bees (or rather rent space to a beekeeper) that is why I used them as an example. He puts the bees on our clover fields, so most of the pollen is collected at a organic source, by he cannot guarantee all if it.

I mean invertebrate drift. Insects move, usually periodically (ie time of day or seasonally) with prevailing winds. Movement of insect biomass can be measurable and impactful on chicken foraging effort. I keep bees as well and do not even consider organic option for reasons you indicate.

Agreed, this is difficult to control. I am fortunate to be adjacent to our land on two sides however the north and west sides are commercial, nothing except trees and a buffer zone between us and it.
But you work with what you have. And as I said I do not certify my birds...would not even if I sold them. It is way to much paperwork and money to justify chickens.

 

[BruceAZ]

I'm not sure why pinning down a precise definition of 'free-range' is so important. It's open to interpretation. I just shared with you what my understanding was based on the people's opinions I find valuable. It isn't written in stone anywhere and commercial poultry farms use a whole different set of guidelines that are utterly ridiculous.

Yes, chicken manure will be everywhere, on every horizontal surface and on a surprising number of vertical ones, too. I have house shoes for in the house, yard shoes for outside and 'clean' shoes that I wear when I leave the property.

I don't have to clean my dog's feet. She licks the poo off the ground before she could possibly step in it.

not my dog.. the last thing i want is chicken manure all over the floor of the house

i read an article a few months back about some the rise of salmonella with backyard chickens?

i don't have acres of land like some users here.. just a small yard that my dog and humans will also use.. so i can't have manure all over the place.

as for the definition of free range-- since there was no clear definition so i want to know what's the correct definition of it is. that is all

since now a day chickens raised in some closed off barn/shed (no sunlight no access to the outside) is being consider as cage free : ?

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

 


I'm not sure why pinning down a precise definition of 'free-range' is so important. It's open to interpretation. I just shared with you what my understanding was based on the people's opinions I find valuable. It isn't written in stone anywhere and commercial poultry farms use a whole different set of guidelines that are utterly ridiculous.

Yes, chicken manure will be everywhere, on every horizontal surface and on a surprising number of vertical ones, too. I have house shoes for in the house, yard shoes for outside and 'clean' shoes that I wear when I leave the property.

I don't have to clean my dog's feet. She licks the poo off the ground before she could possibly step in it.

not my dog.. the last thing i want is chicken manure all over the floor of the house

i read an article a few backs about some the rise of salmonella with backyard chickens? 

i don't have acres of land like some users here.. just a small yard that my dog and humans will also use.. so i can't have manure all over the place.

as for the definition of free range--  since there was no clear definition so i want to know what's the correct definition of it is.  that is all

since now a day chickens raised in some closed off barn/shed  (no sunlight no access to the outside) is being consider as cage free : ?

Yes that would be cage free
ETA: And there is nothing wrong with discussing definitions, it is even on topic with the thread. But the fact that many have different points of view does not surprise me. Farms selling commercially have to have strict definitions, but home use allows alot of wiggle room, and there is nothing wrong with that

 

[BruceAZ]

Yes that would be cage free

even when the chickens are so packed that they are pretty much in the same density (chickens per sq ft) as caged chickens ?

it's interesting..

 

[duluthralphie]

not my dog.. the last thing i want is chicken manure all over the floor of the house

i read an article a few months back about some the rise of salmonella with backyard chickens?

i don't have acres of land like some users here.. just a small yard that my dog and humans will also use.. so i can't have manure all over the place.

as for the definition of free range-- since there was no clear definition so i want to know what's the correct definition of it is. that is all

since now a day chickens raised in some closed off barn/shed (no sunlight no access to the outside) is being consider as cage free : ?

I attended a NPIP class this spring dealing with salmonella in backyard flocks. Whether you free range or not assume you have it. There area multitude of salmonella strains. Some are harmful some are not, some can be under the right circumstances.

I know as a fact I have at least one strain in at least one of my birds. She tests positive for PT. After I do the testing I have to report her as a positive test, Quarantine my flock, not sell any chicks, birds or eggs for a few days while the lab tests her blood and finds out if she is PT negative or not. (she will be always is).

But some salmonella gives a false positive for PT on the rapid whole blood test. Matter of fact, I have named this hen "typhoid Mary". I am not willing to kill her just because of the false positive, I just plan it so I do not have anything to sell after I test her.

I bet you have salmonella also. That is the reason they have warnings on eating less than well cooked eggs. It is a risk I am willing to ignore for good cookie dough!

 

[AllynTal]

...i don't have acres of land like some users here.. just a small yard that my dog and humans will also use.. so i can't have manure all over the place.

as for the definition of free range-- since there was no clear definition so i want to know what's the correct definition of it is. that is all

....

I don't have acres of land. I have just an acre. If you have only a small yard that you have to share among chickens, people, and dogs and you don't want poo all over everything, keep the chickens in a run.

If there is no clear definition, then it stands to reason that there's no correct definition, so like OFW said, there's wiggle room.

 

[AllynTal]

... That is the reason they have warnings on eating less than well cooked eggs. It is a risk I am willing to ignore for good cookie dough!

X2 !!!

 

[Tikkijane]

even when the chickens are so packed that they are pretty much in the same density (chickens per sq ft) as caged chickens ?

it's interesting..

Yes. One of the many reasons USDA regs are misleading. It's like slapping a "gluten free" label on celery.

The American consumer wants to believe everything is kittens and unicorns- maybe that's why so many of them get so nasty about farm raised/butchered when they think {and often say} it's cruel when people should just go to the grocery store instead.

I wish those folks would have to get schooled by Joel Salatin {and family}.

 

[duluthralphie]

Yes. One of the many reasons USDA regs are misleading. It's like slapping a "gluten free" label on celery.

The American consumer wants to believe everything is kittens and unicorns- maybe that's why so many of them get so nasty about farm raised/butchered when they think {and often say} it's cruel when people should just go to the grocery store instead.

I wish those folks would have to get schooled by Joel Salatin {and family}.

Yeppers.

As much as I like to raise my birds free range and chemical free. I am a realist and know we can not feed the billions of humans without chemical and mass production. I think on a micro basis we can all help, on a macro basis we will need factory farms for the foreseeable future. Economics dictates this I am afraid.

 

[Tikkijane]

Yeppers.

As much as I like to raise my birds free range and chemical free. I am a realist and know we can not feed the billions of humans without chemical and mass production.  I think on a micro basis we can all help, on a macro basis we will need factory farms for the foreseeable future.   Economics dictates this I am afraid.

I agree. I wish it was different, but it's not. For those of us that can do differently, hooray. There's no way it will go back to the way it was, but that's life.