Sem-wild chickens in the woods?

[dekel18042]

Quote: What about winter or colder months? Do you get snow?

 

[Pork Pie]

    What about winter or colder months?  Do you get snow?

Extremely little, if any and its not often below freezing

 

[aart]

Quote:

Food is not an issue, foraging chickens will easily find all the food they can eat in the woods.

Quote: Looks like @dekel18042 edited a bit too much out of the quote......
.......question was for @brummie ..and it's a good one.

 

[Pork Pie]

It was, but i was born and lived not far away in the UK - I'm well placed to advise on the English weather having spent the first 25 years of my life there! There would be no relevance in commenting otherwise.

 

[Catus]

I'm afraid it is not true that fox is the only predator that can prey fully grown hens. There are also eagles and hawks and martens (and its relatives). Martens, weasels and minks will climb on trees and kill hens when they are sleeping.
I wouldn't worry about the weather, just pick the right breeds, but still they need some windproof shelter (e.g. coop).
And they definitely need a coop. Otherwise how you collect your eggs? And how you keep them in your woods?

My flock is also free-ranging sometimes (but currently only under supervision, as some hawks are almost everyday circling above my backyard and I already lost a hen), but before I let them free-range I kept them in the run and coop for several weeks. Within this time they accustomed to me and the coop.

 

[brummie]

Interesting thoughts and advice everyone, thanks.

"Maybe a coop with an automatic opening / closing door? "

It's a very good idea and I have thought about it, but my concern with it was that what if the door closes before all the chickens come inside run? And I can't leave it open too late as the foxes will just come in. The chickens will not be accustomed to sleeping in the trees, if they miss the door closing time, they might just sleep somewhere easy for fox to get them.

"Why you would want to set a group of domesticated food animals out in the woods to basically fend for themselves is beyond me.
What is your goal in this endeavor?"

I have kept and bred chickens for a number of years in my good sized garden, and now I may be moving house. Where I am moving too, I may not be able to chickens due to neighbours. But I don't want to give up chickens, I just want to own some, watch them, get the occasional eggs see them hatch etc. I was thinking maybe I could figure out a managmenet system in the woods even if I can't visit everyday.


"but what about owls and hawks?"

Very few hawks here, owls would be a bigger concern. No grey foxes that I know of, just the small red fox. Serioulsy we are very fortunate in the UK, we have very few predators that can take out the chicken easily.

"Needs to indicate hectarage. Also what is land use around area where this to be attempted."

My own area would be about 5 acres of woodland, but many more acres around they would freely be able to go into, we are talking many 10's of acres. In the UK it is hard to even get permission for a shed up in the woods, so it is all just wild growth of trees, bushes, floar and fauna etc with the occassional passerby on a woodland walk. It essentially has no use and by and large woods here not used for anything.

Also let me clarify, this may never be attempted by me, I am just thinking about it to see if it may be workable to some extent.

"You must have some predator management and production will not be high enough to allow both harvest and sustainability"

Predator management is my primary concern, and may very well be my only concern. I am really not bothered about how much harvest I get.

"Not trying to steal his thread but seeing as we want similar things"

Steal it as much as you like lol. The more people questioning the better idea I'll get.

"What about winter or colder months? Do you get snow?"

CTKen is right about the weather. We may get a few short days in the middle of winter below freezing (0 celcius whatever that works out to farenheight) and it is rare we will ever get to -5 celcius. Most chickens can handle -10 celcius. We hardly get any snow where I am although in other places around the UK we do get snow.

I currently have an open air coop, with one side almost fully open, but deep enough so my chickens are sheltered from drafts and wind. My chickens have no problem going thorugh winter and are as happy and healty and active in winter as summer.

"There are also eagles and hawks and martens (and its relatives). Martens, weasels and minks will climb on trees and kill hens when they are sleeping."

There are a few hawks in specfic areas around UK, but nothing to really be worrying about where I am. I have yet to come across an eagle around central England (except in the Zoo). I'm not too sure about weasels and I think minks are rare in UK.

--

I think tha's all the questions answered, apologies if I missed anything.

One possible solution I have been toying with in my head is to play with the open air coop idea. I could have the coop up in the trees (a sort of chicken tree house), but I would have the open end at the bottem (the 4 sides would be boarded up). So vertically, it would need to be long enough so that no drafts would go up far enough to rustle their feathers (as their would also be ventialtion holes at the top).

I think this would stop:

*most owl problems
*all weather problems
*and if high enough all fox problems

The only thing would be training them to go up everynight and then down more or less vertically in the morning to get out of the coop. Any thoughts on this chicken tree house idea?

 

[centrarchid]

Getting them to use it will be first concern.


Could post a satellite image of site? I smell a problem.

 

[centrarchid]

Food will be an issue, a major issue, even without periodic snow cover.

 

[Peeps61]

Interesting thoughts and advice everyone, thanks.

"Maybe a coop with an automatic opening / closing door? "

It's a very good idea and I have thought about it, but my concern with it was that what if the door closes before all the chickens come inside run? And I can't leave it open too late as the foxes will just come in. The chickens will not be accustomed to sleeping in the trees, if they miss the door closing time, they might just sleep somewhere easy for fox to get them.

"Why you would want to set a group of domesticated food animals out in the woods to basically fend for themselves is beyond me.
What is your goal in this endeavor?"

I have kept and bred chickens for a number of years in my good sized garden, and now I may be moving house. Where I am moving too, I may not be able to chickens due to neighbours. But I don't want to give up chickens, I just want to own some, watch them, get the occasional eggs see them hatch etc. I was thinking maybe I could figure out a managmenet system in the woods even if I can't visit everyday.


"but what about owls and hawks?"

Very few hawks here, owls would be a bigger concern. No grey foxes that I know of, just the small red fox. Serioulsy we are very fortunate in the UK, we have very few predators that can take out the chicken easily.

"Needs to indicate hectarage. Also what is land use around area where this to be attempted."

My own area would be about 5 acres of woodland, but many more acres around they would freely be able to go into, we are talking many 10's of acres. In the UK it is hard to even get permission for a shed up in the woods, so it is all just wild growth of trees, bushes, floar and fauna etc with the occassional passerby on a woodland walk. It essentially has no use and by and large woods here not used for anything.

Also let me clarify, this may never be attempted by me, I am just thinking about it to see if it may be workable to some extent.

"You must have some predator management and production will not be high enough to allow both harvest and sustainability"

Predator management is my primary concern, and may very well be my only concern. I am really not bothered about how much harvest I get.

"Not trying to steal his thread but seeing as we want similar things"

Steal it as much as you like lol. The more people questioning the better idea I'll get.

"What about winter or colder months? Do you get snow?"

CTKen is right about the weather. We may get a few short days in the middle of winter below freezing (0 celcius whatever that works out to farenheight) and it is rare we will ever get to -5 celcius. Most chickens can handle -10 celcius. We hardly get any snow where I am although in other places around the UK we do get snow.

I currently have an open air coop, with one side almost fully open, but deep enough so my chickens are sheltered from drafts and wind. My chickens have no problem going thorugh winter and are as happy and healty and active in winter as summer.

"There are also eagles and hawks and martens (and its relatives). Martens, weasels and minks will climb on trees and kill hens when they are sleeping."

There are a few hawks in specfic areas around UK, but nothing to really be worrying about where I am. I have yet to come across an eagle around central England (except in the Zoo). I'm not too sure about weasels and I think minks are rare in UK.

--

I think tha's all the questions answered, apologies if I missed anything.

One possible solution I have been toying with in my head is to play with the open air coop idea. I could have the coop up in the trees (a sort of chicken tree house), but I would have the open end at the bottem (the 4 sides would be boarded up). So vertically, it would need to be long enough so that no drafts would go up far enough to rustle their feathers (as their would also be ventialtion holes at the top).

I think this would stop:

*most owl problems
*all weather problems
*and if high enough all fox problems

The only thing would be training them to go up everynight and then down more or less vertically in the morning to get out of the coop. Any thoughts on this chicken tree house idea?

To share your thoughts on breeds - I have found my silver spangled hamburgs to be good broodies and quite flighty. In fact, one of them is missing her tail feathers today as she escaped from a predator last night (she often roosts in the rafters of the barn, rather than the coop. The other two go into the coops). My brown leghorns are also quite flighty, but not broody much at all. The other breeds will make it, or not, according to age and experience, as Centrachid said.

 

[centrarchid]

Owing to backing away from from productivity, I suggest you acquire Old English Games if you can find them. The Carlisle type is likely superior to the Oxford for your use. Ideally all birds will be more than 8 months prior to stocking out. Older than 24 months should be avoided. Having them with prior predator experience would help. You will loose some before the balance figure out how to avoid fox. Going heavy on hens, possibly 4 to 6 will help. Hold a stag back in case first loss.


I still need to now about your woods and surrounding area. Birds may not stay if what I understand of you description is correct. Predator can bust flock up and they will not come back together, especially if they have not gotten to know lay of the land.