I have been moving groups of chickens a lot lately and seeing something that might have made moving large distances with chickens easier than one might suspect. In the past I assumed that moving with birds required penning them in some sort of portable coop and feeding them grain that was also a costly thing to move. I reality moving the birds might have used some sort of a coop for actual periods of moving but in all likelihood the people moving only moved during day and then only for a few hours to avoid overworking people and draft animals. Balance of time would be for foraging stock to recoup energy expended during the travel period. It appears to me the chickens could also be released for a couple hours in the morning and a similar amount of time in the evening to forage. My birds, when taken to new locations can easily achieve crop fill during each such interval. It may have even been sufficient to support some egg production. My birds anchor foraging to truck and come back to it for roosting and hen coaxed with a treat of grain.
