Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[BlindLemonChicken]

Oh, that's interesting. So if I move Maverick out on his own, it should be to the next hill, or something like that.

I have no idea the distance it would take. For a couple days mine were about an acre apart during the day but somehow they always ended up in the same coop at night.

 

[LaurenRitz]

When I moved my chickens to new places it took as much as a week to go from "New place! I'm going to be eaten tonight!" to "Hey, this place is safe." They don't adjust their habits easily. That was a week of carrying the target chicken(s) to their new roost after dark. Eventually the place they wake up becomes home.

 

[Appalachickens]

I have a question for everyone on this thread: Who all amongst you has full-on free-range survival chickens? I mean the roost-in-the-trees, not-shut-in-a-secure-coop-at-night kind? I just want to make sure it isn't a pipe dream for me to have a hands-off flock(s) in addition to my regular coop chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

I have a question for everyone on this thread: Who all amongst you has full-on free-range survival chickens? I mean the roost-in-the-trees, not-shut-in-a-secure-coop-at-night kind? I just want to make sure it isn't a pipe dream for me to have a hands-off flock(s) in addition to my regular coop chickens.

That is how most of my Missouri Dominiques are kept with the exception of two roosters this winter. The balance is roosting in wild plum trees on the north side of pens used to contain brood stock games. That said I have my son feed them enough during winter so they seldom go beyond 100 yards from the roost. Ranging habits varies with how well we feed them. Additionally, we have a perimeter fence and free-range dogs keeping most predators out. Chickens are not respecting fence.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I have a question for everyone on this thread: Who all amongst you has full-on free-range survival chickens? I mean the roost-in-the-trees, not-shut-in-a-secure-coop-at-night kind? I just want to make sure it isn't a pipe dream for me to have a hands-off flock(s) in addition to my regular coop chickens.

That’s what I got.

Heck, I wrote the book about it.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I think they have indeed split into separate flocks.

I didn’t see how the groups intermingled at roosting time, but I was able to find each flock roosting in their own trees a few trees apart on the edge of the farmyard.

 

[Ikslo]

I have 15 chickens (1 roo, 2 cockerels, 1 hen, 11 laying pullets) on 20 acres, free range. They stick to 2 acres surrounding the house, still get food and water from us, but we stopped locking them up. Some lay eggs up in the trees. They roost at night in the coop or garage/barn rafters; all roosts are up high. We don’t have a perimeter fence, although there is a fenced run which we used to close the gate at night. Now we leave it ajar because some of the new flock was unable to scale the fence to free-range and they were hurting themselves trying to get out before we got out there. We do have a free-range dog who is good at keeping the coyotes away.

I am under no delusion we may suffer losses (mostly to dogs), as we have in the past, but this set up works best for us atm.

So full on free range survival, not really. But definitely free range. And surviving for now.

 

[Appalachickens]

That’s what I got.

Heck, I wrote the book about it.

And I own a copy! I just have noticed on the survival chickens FB page, everyone talks about putting their chickens in the coop at night to protect them, which seems to go against the whole concept. I want mine essentially feral.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

And I own a copy! I just have noticed on the survival chickens FB page, everyone talks about putting their chickens in the coop at night to protect them, which seems to go against the whole concept. I want mine essentially feral.

I take the view that tree roosting is optimal for the reasons I discuss in the book, but I understand why people prefer to coop roost them. It just makes them fish in a barrel if a predator does raid them in the coop.

My “terrorfowl,” which are high percentage oriental gamefowl with only indirect bankvoid blood in them via the Liege, overwhelmingly prefer to coop roost when given the option. But it may also be nurture over nature. They pretty consistently tree roost when removed from my farm and distributed onto new properties.

 

[Ikslo]

And I own a copy! I just have noticed on the survival chickens FB page, everyone talks about putting their chickens in the coop at night to protect them, which seems to go against the whole concept. I want mine essentially feral.

Mine put themselves up each night but the coop is basically three-sided. There is a fenced side with a full sized door we put up when something was picking off chicks last spring (we suspect an owl), but we leave the door open and anyway it’s a deterrent not full protection.

I am aiming for 100% free range, although we do provide food (we don’t go through that much) and multiple automatic waterers. We’ll see if we can make it last.