Successful 100% forage diet experiment (long post)

[OzChickens]

found this while researching for my suburban backyard flock.

currently letting them roam my 600 sq m backyard, I give the flock of 8 approx 1L of layer feed a day. I'm pretty sure the slowest/smallest ones get less food. Water is provided inside the chick coops (have one mass manufactured coop and 2 home made chicken tractors)

these were all raised from hatched eggs, kept them locked up in a coop until they were (approx) 2 months old, fully adult feathered. Now the coop's are left open 24/7 unless I'm needing them locked away for yard access.

I'm in Brisbane, mild winter here. Local council regulates dogs and cats to the extent owners keep their dogs inside fences and cats indoors.
Being a suburban block with fencing and no roaming dogs and cats means we have near zero predators.

My backyard has a few trees and the 8 chickens generally stay together, so any incoming predator would not be attacking an individual. The backyard has a mix of unmown lawn and unmaintained areas they can forage in.

still early in my trial. approx 2 months since I started the minimal feed + free ranging over backyard experiment.

I'm curious what a generally accepted threshold of density works. obviously this will vary with local conditions, I'm thinking excess density will show when the chickens are excessively scratching at the grass.


not having to clean the coop is nice, we have some fencing to keep part or the backyard clean, the free access area has some poop bombs and still working out best management for the hygene problem. Might revert to the chicken tractors if it becomes too annoying.

 

[raingarden]

Two points. First, my 100% free range flock prefers nest boxes scattered around the farmyard. They instinctively know the nest boxes are safer places to nest. I estimate I get up to 75% of the eggs laid around the farm, with hidden nests becoming the norm only when nest boxes fill up with broody hens. They don’t pick their nesting spots based on food availability near the nest. Instead they base their spots on security.

Second, my poor family lived off of their feral game chickens last century. They had several hundred hens divided between a few brood cocks spread around the woods. They found all the eggs they wanted simply because of the numbers involved. Its not hard to find nests when there are several dozen hens laying.

Think about it like this: Suppose you have 50 hens living feral on your farm. Let’s say they only make 50 eggs a piece a year. That’s still 2,500 eggs. Assume you only find 50% of the eggs laid. That’s still 1,250 eggs a year, plenty for a family to have about 3-4 eggs a day. Realistically you’ll get more eggs than that. My little Cracker hens lay 100-150 eggs per hen a year free range.

Your birds sure are productive. Our quasi-feral hens will lay twice a year, almost always between the winter solstice and summer solstice, The average is about 8 to 10 per clutch. They're not big eggs either.

I'll show my wife your nest boxes. She collects eggs if she can tell how old they are, but they're hard to find and seldom nest in the same spot twice.

 

[raingarden]

found this while researching for my suburban backyard flock.

currently letting them roam my 600 sq m backyard, I give the flock of 8 approx 1L of layer feed a day. I'm pretty sure the slowest/smallest ones get less food. Water is provided inside the chick coops (have one mass manufactured coop and 2 home made chicken tractors)

these were all raised from hatched eggs, kept them locked up in a coop until they were (approx) 2 months old, fully adult feathered. Now the coop's are left open 24/7 unless I'm needing them locked away for yard access.

I'm in Brisbane, mild winter here. Local council regulates dogs and cats to the extent owners keep their dogs inside fences and cats indoors.
Being a suburban block with fencing and no roaming dogs and cats means we have near zero predators.

My backyard has a few trees and the 8 chickens generally stay together, so any incoming predator would not be attacking an individual. The backyard has a mix of unmown lawn and unmaintained areas they can forage in.

still early in my trial. approx 2 months since I started the minimal feed + free ranging over backyard experiment.

I'm curious what a generally accepted threshold of density works. obviously this will vary with local conditions, I'm thinking excess density will show when the chickens are excessively scratching at the grass.


not having to clean the coop is nice, we have some fencing to keep part or the backyard clean, the free access area has some poop bombs and still working out best management for the hygene problem. Might revert to the chicken tractors if it becomes too annoying.

With those numbers I'd say you're doing really really well so far. Please keep us posted.

 

[CarolinaLady]

Every so often someone posts a question asking if chickens can survive solely on free-range/forage. The overwhelming response is generally a resounding "no", followed by a laundry list of reasons why it shouldn't be attempted (from not enough forage to increased exposure to predation, etc), which is probably true in most situations.

I am always interested in the threads talking about this because it just seems to me that 100% free-ranging is a species-appropriate life for a chicken, and in my mind, is the gold standard that I should strive for. Adding to that, I geek out on nutrition topics (humans AND animals), so the idea of truly unadulterated meat and eggs makes me swoon.

I just can't believe that this practice is nothing more than a relic of days gone by, only existing in stories of how our grandparents did it. I've been toying with the idea of trying it out for years. I don't feed my goats or my steer, so...why am I feeding the chickens?

I decided to go for it.

So, back somewhere around May I gathered up 48 eggs from my flock and dusted off the Janoel. I had never attempted a dry hatch/incubation, so I decided to try it out. 38 of the 48 hatched right on time with a 3 day spread from first pip to last out of the shell.

I fed the chicks fermented organic, soy-free, non-gmo layer mash direct from the mill while they were in the brooder phase. (Yes, layer mash. 17% to be exact.) I did not vaccinate them, add anything to the water, or supplement with 'treats'). Not a single chick had pasty butt, by the way. (That's because of the fermented feed).

I moved the chicks to an outdoor, open-air brooder when the first adult feathers started showing up. Yes, this is earlier than 'general wisdom' says to do so. I kept them on the fermented feed and started pulling up large clumps of grass and weeds and random vegetation from the creek bank, (roots and dirt and rocks included) to put inside the brooder every day. Once over the initial fear of the new 'thing' in the brooder, the chicks would attack the clumps of vegetation with gusto. I also did not clean out the outdoor brooder. I left all the grass and dirt refuse in it.

The brooder is a two-story prefab coop marketed for 4-6 adult birds, (but isn't big enough for one bird to live it's life in if you ask me). I built a hardware cloth floor for the brooder and put it on wagon tires. It sits outside in the grass and is surrounded by electric poultry netting. My intent was to move the brooder and fence every week or so and keep the youngsters confined within the electric poultry netting.

I started letting the chicks out of the brooder house when they were about 1/2 fuzz and 1/2 feathers. They would stay out all day and return to the coop for the night. What I didn't realize at first is that some were going right through the poultry netting and out into the wild unknown all day long. When I figured this out, all bets were off and I just started opening the gate in the mornings and closing it at night. The experiment was officially beginning whether I liked it or not.

I put some fermented feed in the brooder each evening for about a week, mostly for my own peace of mind that it would get the birds to return home.
It did.
However, the birds all had full crops upon returning to the brooder each evening, so I decided it was time to stop offering food completely.

And that is how it has remained to this day. I never moved the brooder from it's original location and I don't even close it. I do close the electric fence. Gotta say that I'm happy to NOT have to pull up and reset a ridiculous amount of electric poultry fencing every week...

Have there been losses? Yes. I lost 3 birds to sour crop early on, which I believe was due to eating overly fibrous grasses.
Do they still return to the brooder? Most do, others just return to the general area. They don't all choose to roost inside the brooder house. Some roost on top of it. Others roost high up in nearby Oak trees. Two hens and a roo seem to prefer roosting on my lawnmower.

All but one hen and 4 roosters have figured out that flying over the fence every morning is preferable to waiting on me to go open the gate for them. Half the flock hauls butt into the forest and the other half head off to the creek first thing every day, even before daylight (I only know this because I can hear the roosters). I rarely see them at all until dusk rolls around and they start heading back to the brooder house.

An armadillo and a possum have decided to make homes inside the poultry fencing. The possum routinely steals the nest box bedding, which is fine because the hens won't use the nest boxes. A few will lay eggs inside the brooder house. Two lay eggs on my front deck. One lays an egg in the doghouse that my elderly cat stays in during the winter. The rest of them lay eggs in the woods. None of the birds seem to mind the armadillo and possum hanging around.

Are the birds skinny? Malnourished? Bony? No, No, and No. They are all of comparable size to my other flock that free ranges during the day and is given 16% layer pellets every evening after returning to the barn.

Do I give them any food at all? Sure. I throw their eggshells outside after breakfast. If any birds are still around the house they will immediately come and eat them. I also throw out the meat and bones leftover from making chicken bone broth. They eat every scrap of it. I occasionally throw out wilty fruit/vegetables or stale bread ends (homemade). I do this mostly because I'm lazy and it's easier to throw this stuff off the back deck than it is to have it stinking up the kitchen trash can. If the chickens don't eat it, possums and raccoons will. Either is fine with me. Point being that I throw stuff to them on occasion, but in insignificant amounts.

The eggs are smaller than those from my older barn flock, but they are the same in regards to having thick shells and membranes. Unless you hit a rock, the eggs bounce when you throw them on the ground! The yolks are the darkest orange-red I've ever seen. I honestly thought something was very wrong when I saw the first one. The older barn birds eggs also have nice orange yolks, but not anywhere near as dark the others. I don't know why there is a color difference between the flocks.

As for predation, I haven't lost any birds from this flock to predators. I do lose birds from the barn flock to predators on a regular basis...about one a month. I see hawks overhead every day and I often see a fox slinking around near the barn. Raccoons are plentiful. I don't know why this flock has managed to survive predation so far. Is it because they've lived 'wild' basically their whole lives and are more world-wise and able to avoid predators? I truly don't know.

They have a decent amount of forest to roam...land that has never been developed or used for anything. It has decades upon decades of forest floor leaf litter, decaying branches, mosses, mushrooms, and who-knows-what-all out there. I'm certain it's a bug smorgasbord. I no longer fill up waterers either. I stopped that awhile back, too. There's a mile of creek here, so I figure they're good with that.

So, there you go. Chickens can not only survive, they can thrive, on a 100% free-range/forage diet.

I know that not everyone lives in a similar type of place and I wouldn't think of trying this in a suburban yard situation, or even a semi-suburban with a couple of acres situation. I'm not advocating for everyone to stop feeding their chickens. Some of you out there may have the right kind of place for this and a mind to try it, and I'm just here saying it can be done. And at the risk of patting myself on the back too hard...I feel like I may have raised a better/hardier/smarter flock of birds than any of the others I've had before.

Or maybe they've just been lucky.


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Hello! I was wondering what breed these are and if all your birds are the same? (the ones in and the ones out)...The hens here look similar to Australorps or black Jersey Giants to me but the roo doesn't haha. I was wondering what breeds I should try this with if I did. I assume some would do better than others. Wonder if the heritage type birds would fare better than the hybrid wonder eggers ha. Also figured game hens would do well since they might have a better chance in the fight instincts. And also be quicker potentially? But I've never had game birds. I also have a toddler son that I would want a nice roo if he was to be out all the time. Granted I can take a chicken....but don't want to have to worry about it. Some are so naughty. I've heard the Barred Rock has a typically kinder Roo.
Another question I had was - any ideas for getting your hens to lay in one place? I feel like that would be fun but also slightly annoying. And I'd be worried about just how long the egg had been out in the heat as I live in SC. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I always tried to get mine inside to a descent temp within a few days at most if i was gone for the weekend or something. Just so they'd last longer in my mind.

 

[Perris]

Hello! I was wondering what breed these are and if all your birds are the same? (the ones in and the ones out)...The hens here look similar to Australorps or black Jersey Giants to me but the roo doesn't haha. I was wondering what breeds I should try this with if I did. I assume some would do better than others. Wonder if the heritage type birds would fare better than the hybrid wonder eggers ha. Also figured game hens would do well since they might have a better chance in the fight instincts. And also be quicker potentially? But I've never had game birds. I also have a toddler son that I would want a nice roo if he was to be out all the time. Granted I can take a chicken....but don't want to have to worry about it. Some are so naughty. I've heard the Barred Rock has a typically kinder Roo.
Another question I had was - any ideas for getting your hens to lay in one place? I feel like that would be fun but also slightly annoying. And I'd be worried about just how long the egg had been out in the heat as I live in SC. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I always tried to get mine inside to a descent temp within a few days at most if i was gone for the weekend or something. Just so they'd last longer in my mind.

the OP hasn't been seen since Feb last year, so you're unlikely to get their answer to these questions I'm afraid.

My answer would be yes, heritage breeds are more suited to this, but best of all try to acquire locally birds that were raised in real free ranging (outside, dawn to dusk, not just in a barn with access to the outside) with a broody, not birds born and raised in incubators, boxes, and other artificial circumstances. The former will have been taught what to eat and how to survive. The latter will have to learn for themselves by trial and error. You can imagine the difference in outcomes.

Having a roo raised in a mixed flock is also a good idea if you want him to be well behaved around your son. He will then have been trained by senior roos and hens how to behave.

The best way to get hens laying where you want them to is to make the nests attractive to them; clean, protected from the weather, parasite free. All free range hens are at liberty to hide their eggs; it's part of the package. But these people are making laying wherever work, apparently!
https://www.nspirement.com/2022/04/30/story-behind-italian-alpine-eggs.html

 

[CarolinaLady]

the OP hasn't been seen since Feb last year, so you're unlikely to get their answer to these questions I'm afraid.

My answer would be yes, heritage breeds are more suited to this, but best of all try to acquire locally birds that were raised in real free ranging (outside, dawn to dusk, not just in a barn with access to the outside) with a broody, not birds born and raised in incubators, boxes, and other artificial circumstances. The former will have been taught what to eat and how to survive. The latter will have to learn for themselves by trial and error. You can imagine the difference in outcomes.

Having a roo raised in a mixed flock is also a good idea if you want him to be well behaved around your son. He will then have been trained by senior roos and hens how to behave.

The best way to get hens laying where you want them to is to make the nests attractive to them; clean, protected from the weather, parasite free. All free range hens are at liberty to hide their eggs; it's part of the package. But these people are making laying wherever work, apparently!
https://www.nspirement.com/2022/04/30/story-behind-italian-alpine-eggs.html

Thanks so much for your input and the article! I have done some research online and know of a somewhat local farm that raises chickens. I think I may reach out to that farm to see if they have what I’m looking for.

 

[Perris]

good luck!

 

[McChooky]

Hello! I was wondering what breed these are and if all your birds are the same? (the ones in and the ones out)...The hens here look similar to Australorps or black Jersey Giants to me but the roo doesn't haha. I was wondering what breeds I should try this with if I did. I assume some would do better than others. Wonder if the heritage type birds would fare better than the hybrid wonder eggers ha. Also figured game hens would do well since they might have a better chance in the fight instincts. And also be quicker potentially? But I've never had game birds. I also have a toddler son that I would want a nice roo if he was to be out all the time. Granted I can take a chicken....but don't want to have to worry about it. Some are so naughty. I've heard the Barred Rock has a typically kinder Roo.
Another question I had was - any ideas for getting your hens to lay in one place? I feel like that would be fun but also slightly annoying. And I'd be worried about just how long the egg had been out in the heat as I live in SC. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I always tried to get mine inside to a descent temp within a few days at most if i was gone for the weekend or something. Just so they'd last longer in my mind.

Perhaps the op will give us an update & let us know how many survived their 1st year. I suspect the op lost 2 or 3 x more of these as the others (12 barn hens yr on average)

"My starting flock that donated the hatching eggs is a mix of heritage, rare, and mutts. I had a BCM and an Olive Egger Roo over all of these-->American Bresse, Ayam Cemani, All variations of Marans, Olive Eggers, Ameraucana, Cream Legbar, Isbar, Blue Orp, Ancona, Blue Andalusian, Blue Australorp, and mixes of all the above."

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Wow, I want to try this! We have an old two story coop in a goat yard that is not being used. I might send my next batch out there to fend for themselves. They would only have about 2 acres fenced to forage and I would have to bring them water, but it would be incredible if they thrived without being fed each day. I am curious what did you do for them in winter?

 

[Nyhillbillies]

-Central Texas
-This is the first winter and they are doing fine so far. There is shelter available to them should they want to use it.
-I'm getting a small percentage of the eggs. I *could* get more if I wanted to hike the hills every day, but I don't. I know the general area that some of the hens frequent and I'm pretty sure that I could find eggs if I looked around some.

This experiment is fascinating! What are your future plans for the ‘wild flock’?