Starting my resilience flock.

[Cammo77]

G'day everyone, been a while since I've been on here but not much has changed in my chicken world until now. We've finally moved to our new house on a 5 acre block, 2 of which is a paddock to run livestock. Moving has allowed me to finally keep a rooster legally and I've managed to buy a black breasted red Old English game rooster. He's still only young but he has a great temperament. I've also recently purchased 3 Brown Leghorn pullets as well to go with my 2 Barnevelder, 1 Welsummer cross and a Barnevelder/Leghorn cross. I had 2 Polish hens as well but because I'm free ranging them more now those two would of been eaten due to their lack of vision and general IQ. I'm still looking to add more pullets but will keep my flock size around 12 plus the 1 rooster. I'm posting my journey with my goal being to breed a more resilient type of chook that requires minimal intervention but isn't necessary a full on Free Range Survival Chicken, which is where I got the idea for this (Thanks Bullfrog if you see this). Feel free to discuss with me either positively or negatively as I'm still fairly new to the chicken breeding world. Thanks for reading

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Exciting! I’ve been doing the same for about five months now. I love my game hens and my mixed breed (EE and game) rooster has been very helpful. Next spring I plan on adding some Leghorns as well. I didn’t start out with a survival chicken plan—I just wanted to free range. But everyone told me my chickens would vanish in a week. That hasn’t happened but I’ve been learning a lot just seeing how the chickens spend their days. The rooster sleeps in a tree and one of the games has gone completely feral I see her every few days but I have no idea where she sleeps or where she spends her days. What is your predator load like?

 

[Mrs. K]

BlindLemonChicken - do you get eggs? They keep coming back and laying for you, or are they just gone?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

BlindLemonChicken - do you get eggs? They keep coming back and laying for you, or are they just gone?

Because she was locked in the coop for a few weeks when I got her I can tell her egg from others (also because only two of my four games are laying) so I do get the occasional egg from her. She sneaks back to the coop to eat and lay an egg then she disappears again.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

The other chickens lay in the coop and the barn in an old feed trough. I am not getting many eggs because of molting and the time of year but I get enough to feed my family so I’m happy with that.

 

[Cammo77]

Exciting! I’ve been doing the same for about five months now. I love my game hens and my mixed breed (EE and game) rooster has been very helpful. Next spring I plan on adding some Leghorns as well. I didn’t start out with a survival chicken plan—I just wanted to free range. But everyone told me my chickens would vanish in a week. That hasn’t happened but I’ve been learning a lot just seeing how the chickens spend their days. The rooster sleeps in a tree and one of the games has gone completely feral I see her every few days but I have no idea where she sleeps or where she spends her days. What is your predator load like?

Wow thats awesome. Glad you could prove the naysayers wrong! I've talked to others that have feral chickens now too
Predator load here is pretty low. I haven't seen any hawks or aerial predators and haven't seen any evidence of foxes here either although they're in the general area. We do have big pythons that are a problem though and that's why mine will only semi free range. Not much they can do against a nocturnal predator that stealthy.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Glad you could prove the naysayers wrong!

I’m sure it won’t all be sunshine and rainbows. I had a daytime free range flock in the city for a few years and I did have a hen build a clutch under a plant in the garden (I can’t remember what the plant was but it had big enough leaves she managed to squirrel away a couple dozen eggs). By the time I figured out what she was up to I had a bucket of rotten eggs. I couldn’t keep a rooster then so I’m hopeful that if it happens now I will end up with chicks instead

 

[Cammo77]

I’m sure it won’t all be sunshine and rainbows. I had a daytime free range flock in the city for a few years and I did have a hen build a clutch under a plant in the garden (I can’t remember what the plant was but it had big enough leaves she managed to squirrel away a couple dozen eggs). By the time I figured out what she was up to I had a bucket of rotten eggs. I couldn’t keep a rooster then so I’m hopeful that if it happens now I will end up with chicks instead

Definitely won't be without some losses but that's nature. I've lost a few before I free ranged mine so I don't see much difference....not that I want to be feeding the local wildlife though.