Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[BDutch]

The Nestera ads always show this sort of setup, which seems so incredibly risky to those of us with numerous predators and on small urban lots with lots of vehicle traffic. I wondered if is was just idealized marketing imagery or close to the real thing.

The question about free ranging and replacing has been answered to a large extend. Can add that some people in the Netherlands choose to free range too. Even though its not allowed every winter period (October - Mai) since the HPAI arrived in our country.

The traffic is not a big problem. Chickens learn to stay away from it better than cats imho. I have seen chickens near the streets and on the pavement many times.
Mine cross the street too, no problem here bc I live on a dead end street.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Very good summary of where you are with your flock!

A somewhat related question: how common is it in the UK (and Ireland) to have the small pre-fab molded plastic coops like Nesteras just sitting out on open land; no enclosed run?

The Nestera ads always show this sort of setup, which seems so incredibly risky to those of us with numerous predators and on small urban lots with lots of vehicle traffic. I wondered if is was just idealized marketing imagery or close to the real thing.

An old neighbor kept a flock on the corner of a busy street. A couple times she found the birds just standing on the corner watching the cars.

Trying to get them back into the yard was riskier (6 foot fence) because you never know which direction a spooked bird is going.

 

[Backroadlogic]

I have 15 acres on a dirt road. My chickens spend half the day pecking around both sides of the road. I've had 2 hit by cars in the past couple years. Never before that. Huge uptick in traffic in my area.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

An old neighbor kept a flock on the corner of a busy street. A couple times she found the birds just standing on the corner watching the cars.

Trying to get them back into the yard was riskier (6 foot fence) because you never know which direction a spooked bird is going.

I’m impressed at the tolerance of neighbors. The guy behind us doesn’t like the idea of chickens, which he apparently thinks hurts his property value. Others, while kinder, probably wouldn’t appreciate chicken doots all over their property. (Heck, even we fence them away from the walkway and our sitting area.)

 

[kattabelly]

There's a few spots along the (relatively) busy main road between the biggest towns here where it's not uncommon to see chickens grazing along the verge. They seem to generally be quite good at keeping out of the way of cars going at a decent speed.

The bigger danger, in my experience, is that they'll often sneak up under a parked vehicle in the time it takes to get in and switch the engine on after you've just chased them away.

There used to be someone just around the corner from my cousin's house - right out on the edge of London but still very much an urban environment and right under the Heathrow flight path - who kept chickens that would regularly get out onto the busy road. All the local bus drivers knew to look out for them and either wait or get out and chase them onto the pavement