The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[McChooky]

I know, right!? I've heard people say they are good watchdogs. No, they're not! They're so noisy all the time you tune them out entirely, like a that barks constantly! Like MY dog, for example, lol.

The repetitive loud noises they make annoys me.Its not their fault lol

 

[BlueBaby]

The repetitive loud noises they make annoys me.Its not their fault lol

The littler dogs annoy me the most with the barking. Those seem to bark at thier own shadows most of the time.

 

[KF0002]

I don't free range and there's not a bunch of tree's in my yard for them to fly up into anyways.

Our property meets a woodline on two sides, so there are lots of trees for them to roost in. Free-ranging is not suitable for everyone's situation and I get that completely. Especially if you live in a varmint infested area and have no LGDs to protect your birds. We live way out in the country and don't have neighbors very close. We like free ranging our chickens because they require less feed, are healthier, and lay more eggs free-ranging, which is common sense. The more they forage, the more nutritious their diet becomes, which makes them eat less feed and lay more eggs. Gaps in nutrition, lack of adequate space, lack of exercise and mental enrichment, and overcrowding cause the majority of issues one might encounter when raising chickens, such as feather picking, low egg production, fatty liver (visceral fat), etc. By free-ranging, you provide a chicken with a more natural environment, complete nutrition from foraging, and plenty of space for exercise. Foraging also provides mental enrichment. Birds we catch up that have been free-ranging at any given time are fit and muscular and have a good body condition. A leaner, more muscular body from active foraging contributes to less fat around the abdomen/vent and reduces issues encountered with egg laying. Mind you, we pen keep a lot of birds too, mainly the breeders, so not all birds can be free ranged, especially if you intend to selectively breed them. But there are loads of benefits to free-ranging if one is able to. Sorry for rambling.

 

[KF0002]

My brother had to shoot predators when were growing up because our chickens roosted in trees (He built them a coop but they wouldn't use it) Anyway he's asked me repeatedly not to get any game chickens because they like to roost in trees and I'll have to shoot predators

Yes he was right! Our game chickens teach the Legbar, Leghorns, etc to roost in the trees. My free-ranged chickens are feral and do what they want. lol

 

[The Moonshiner]

Mine go out in the morning and up at night. They did like the trees but even with sticking to the upper and outer limbs I was having issues with predators. Opossums and believe it or not great horned owls. The coons definitely had a harder time with the smarter birds and where they roosted.

I've had quite a few GHOs here too.

We call them Headhunters because my boy was very confused about something just taking birds heads off and leaving the rest.
The first time I saw one something was killing free-range juvenile mallards. I was setting on the back porch drinking coffee right before sunrise. One came from over the house and swooped down just above me then landed on a gate post. Ya it seemed huge and I was amazed how silent it was in flight.
The pic was from years later. I had open top juvenile pens in the barn. Had a half feral.cat problem so as a quick fix I put bird netting across the pens.
Ya I was quite surprised to walk up to see that in the pen. It crashed through the netting and couldn't find its way out. I used a long handled net at first to try to herd it out the door. That didn't work and had it in a fighting mood.
He was making the weirdest clicking noise with his beak. Reminded me of the Predator. Spooky. Plan B was to get it into a wire cage I had to transfer chickens in. It had a good size door so I tried to put it over him then I was pull the door shut with a string while I flipped it. He got cornered then grapped the cage with his talons. It took quite a while to finally get him caught. I.hate them.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The repetitive loud noises they make annoys me.Its not their fault lol

I loved the more rare colored ones. I.even loved the racket they make. Mine were redneck guineas so instead of the so called buckwheat call mine ran around all day yelling butt crack, butt crack, butt crack.
Males were often mean to the chickens and the females would always go nest in the pasture and disappear. I wouldn't want them penned and they couldn't survive long term free ranging here.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Good luck with the eggs.
You should be getting better weather for a few anyways. Today starts 2 days in the lower 60s then 2 right at 70°. Storms and lower 50s for the weekend then a whole string of 50s after that. Think we're headed for the downhill slide here.

 

[The Moonshiner]

1,500 pages

 

[Amer]

I know, right!? I've heard people say they are good watchdogs. No, they're not! They're so noisy all the time you tune them out entirely, like a that barks constantly! Like MY dog, for example, lol.

The repetitive loud noises they make annoys me.Its not their fault lol

I don't like guineas either. They're kind of like robots with a very simple program.

 

[BlueBaby]

Our property meets a woodline on two sides, so there are lots of trees for them to roost in. Free-ranging is not suitable for everyone's situation and I get that completely. Especially if you live in a varmint infested area and have no LGDs to protect your birds. We live way out in the country and don't have neighbors very close. We like free ranging our chickens because they require less feed, are healthier, and lay more eggs free-ranging, which is common sense. The more they forage, the more nutritious their diet becomes, which makes them eat less feed and lay more eggs. Gaps in nutrition, lack of adequate space, lack of exercise and mental enrichment, and overcrowding cause the majority of issues one might encounter when raising chickens, such as feather picking, low egg production, fatty liver (visceral fat), etc. By free-ranging, you provide a chicken with a more natural environment, complete nutrition from foraging, and plenty of space for exercise. Foraging also provides mental enrichment. Birds we catch up that have been free-ranging at any given time are fit and muscular and have a good body condition. A leaner, more muscular body from active foraging contributes to less fat around the abdomen/vent and reduces issues encountered with egg laying. Mind you, we pen keep a lot of birds too, mainly the breeders, so not all birds can be free ranged, especially if you intend to selectively breed them. But there are loads of benefits to free-ranging if one is able to. Sorry for rambling.

I know that everyone's situations are different. We have hawks, owls, coyotes, and sometimes stay dogs here.