I always here people say this breed or that breed are great foragers. Personally I've never had any poor foragers. Even the meat hubbards that I turned out one day started wondering around and scratching for bugs. Has anyone ever had chickens that were poor foragers?
Once I settled on brahmas as my first breed, I was told they weren't good for free range, because of the feathered feet. Almost two years later and I'm still trying to figure that one out. Their feet get messy in wet weather and they dry again. What's the big deal about that? They do just fine free ranging.
My girls love to forage for their food. Guess it's much more fun to hunt for bugs than to eat what's in the food bowl. It's probably better for them in terms of getting exercise too.
well i would have to say my silkies are my poorest foragers. you very rarely see them away from the coop. i think they know they cant fly to get away from predators so they stay close to the coop for protection. my best foragers(and the first ones out the door in the morning) would have to be my golden comet pullets, BLRW cockeral, GLW pullet, and my WCBP hen, and my BOxRIR hen. they are excellent foragers. my my BEST BEST BEST foragers are my guineas and peacocks. LOL!!!
I have six different breeds; NH Red, Blue Andalusian, Australorp, Buff Orp, Speckled Sussex and an EE. They forage well but did better after they trained me to go all over the yard and turn over things that may hide crickets and roaches. Once they learned that these are good to eat they seem to be actively pursuing them more. Before this, they were indifferent and waited until a bug crossed in front of them. Lazy little buggers! Twenty weeks old and still no eggs. Freeloaders! Mary
Well, I imagine my bantam cochin would be poor foragers. They don't dig for anything at all. My best would be my bantam EE's who dig big holes in their pen but the blue and splash Polish like to dig a lot too.
Quote:LUCKY! My guineas are my worst foragers!!!!! They won't go 20 feet from the coop. And you have to THROW them out of the run everyday. Pus there are LOADS of ticks in the woods behind the coop and a freshwater spring! I think they're attached to the chickens.
