Open-Ranged Poultry?

[TheRealCliffordWilliams]

Hello All!

Has anyone here ever open-ranged poultry?

I have a 1 acre mostly fenced yard with mostly pasture and some woods. I have one duck (a 1 yr old who just lost his sister) who sleeps in the barn (converted shed) with his friends the pigs, and he runs around wherever he wants during the day. I just got 25 chicks (2 weeks old; orpington, delaware, and 1 barred rock) and 6 turkey poults (2 days old; broad breasted bronze), and am thinking of letting them have open range as well.
I know that Joel Salatin's chicken tractor method is very popular for free ranged poultry. However, I want to just let the birds run around the property. I plan on slaughtering 20 of the chickens; 9 in July and 11 in August, and plan on slaughtering the turkeys in August. So, the birds won't be too big for too long (I hope). I'll be able to let them out of their barn which they'll share with the duck and pigs, and put them back at night, and my kids and dog and I will be able to hang out with the flock during the day.

I'm wondering if anyone's had any experience with this kind of thing? I've already started putting the 2 week old chicks out on pasture in a pen during the warm days we've been having so they'll get used to foraging. If this weather keeps up, I may have them sleeping in the barn with a heat lamp this week!
I know that it'll be impossible to keep the turkeys' and chickens' feed separate once they're housed together, but that won't be until they're off starter anyway. I know that we'll have a bunch of big birds running around and pooping on everything, but I'm kind of fine with that! I know that they'll tear up my garden, but I'm armed with chicken wire.

If anyone has had experience open ranging poultry like this, I'd love to hear any advice, tips, tricks, or just how it went!!

Thanks for reading

 

[centrarchid]

What you describe is on the spectrum of what most people call free-range keeping. You will kind predator management will be a bigger concern than with other methods. I have resorted to managing for cover patches, putting up fencing to hinder ground predators and exclude dogs that are not mine, trapping, and building a pack of poultry guardian dogs that must defend about 6 acres of ground. Additionally a barn is in place with semi-protected roosting. A very modest amount of lighting enables chickens to see nighttime baddies like Great-horned owls so chickens can give alarm calling dogs to run owl off.

You can spare feed needs at likely cost of some chickens taken by predators. Setup I use good enough for my flock to be closed where it produces all replacements plus eggs and meat for family to eat. My kids learn a lot from the process and we all confine many chickens as well plus do some incubator and brooder action to support broody hens.

There is a lot more too it than I just described. Overall, you will find yourself making adjustments frequently or flock will be lost.

Most people do not appear to have stomach for it.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I free range my adults only (4mos and older). We live in the mtns of Virginia on 28ac of fields and woods. Predators range from bears to Bobcats and almost everything in between and we have no fencing whatsoever where the chickens forage.
I have only ever lost 1 bird to predation. There are two reasons I have been successfully able to minimize my losses with such a variety of potential predators roaming my yard each night.
1. Secure coop. The majority of predators will attack at night (not all. My one death came in middle of the day). I elevated my coop to eliminate diggers and chewers from getting inside (also have no mice or rat problems). Every opening is secured with welded wire fencing. Every door (exterior nesting boxes and main entry door) are double latched. We have had bears try to get in but it seems to be difficult enough to deter them so far.

2. A dog. You say you have one? Good. Train him well to be safe amongst the birds. My one death came before we got our pit/lab mix. Charlie (dog) is a family pet, not a guard dog but his presence has eliminated day time threats and his scent is effective at reducing night time visitors.

I am also a hunter and kill coyotes on sight and foxes when in season. But this does very little to control predators.

Benefits to free ranging IMO is better tasting eggs/meat, healthier birds, and savings on time snd money. I clean my coop once a month in warm months and twice a month in winter. They are oitside from dawn to dusk so poop in the coop is minimized.
There feed is cut by more than 50% in the summer. They have free choice of feed but I ho through about 75-100lbs a month in summer and close to 250lbs in winter. This of course depends upon the number of birds i have on hand at the time. We butcher our roos no later than 6mos and hens at 10 mons to make room for the next hatches to take their place.

It really is as simple for me as letting them out, feeding, watering in the morning and collecting eggs and locking up at night.

 

[TheRealCliffordWilliams]

Wow, thanks for the replies!

The more I learn about predators, the more it seems like the best solution in a free-range situation is to keep dogs. My dog is getting older and definitely wouldn't hurt the birds (the turkeys started bossing HIM around last year at about 4 mo old) so I'm thinking of getting a puppy for him to train...once I process the pigs. But he did tree a bear this year, so he's definitely still useful.

I'm hoping that letting them run around an enclosed 1 ac yard with guardian kids/dog, and then locking them up in an barn(converted shed) at night will be safer than salatin's chicken tractor. I lost my hens and one duck last fall to a raccoon who got into a mobile coop I built, and I had to put the surviving duck and turkeys into the shed(now barn) where they survived 'til processing.

I'm glad to hear others have done something like this. I hope to be able to selectively breed over time a dual purpose breed ideal for our home.

 

[cluckadoodledoo13]

Wow, thanks for the replies!

The more I learn about predators, the more it seems like the best solution in a free-range situation is to keep dogs. My dog is getting older and definitely wouldn't hurt the birds (the turkeys started bossing HIM around last year at about 4 mo old) so I'm thinking of getting a puppy for him to train...once I process the pigs. But he did tree a bear this year, so he's definitely still useful.

I'm hoping that letting them run around an enclosed 1 ac yard with guardian kids/dog, and then locking them up in an barn(converted shed) at night will be safer than salatin's chicken tractor. I lost my hens and one duck last fall to a raccoon who got into a mobile coop I built, and I had to put the surviving duck and turkeys into the shed(now barn) where they survived 'til processing.

I'm glad to hear others have done something like this. I hope to be able to selectively breed over time a dual purpose breed ideal for our home.

This sounds like a great idea! I had a small flock free ranging a while back and they thrived for it, they loved being able to explore the long grass. As long as you have secure fencing and have somewhere safe at night i think you’ll be fine!