What chickens free ranging in a traditional management system eat I.E. how it was done before commercial feeds

[saysfaa]

https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajas.2016.182.188&org=11

"...Scavenging Feed Resource Base (SFRB) is defined as those feed resources available at farm level that consists of household refuse and all the materials available in the immediate environment that the scavenging birds can use as feed. It depends on the number of chickens per households, the types of food crops grown, methods of cultivation and food processing and the climatic conditions that determine the rate of decomposition of the food products....

...30 households keeping indigenous chickens were randomly selected from three Kebeles [the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia - so the equivalent of a township here in the US Midwest] (ten from each). Arrangements were made with the total of 30 selected participating households for the purchase of the experimental chickens. The total of 60 chicken (30 pullets and 30 cockerels with mean weight of 1.12 and 1.4 kg, respectively) at an age of 3-5 months were purchased on the basis of their physical appearance and informations provided by the participating households. The chickens were collected directly from the households. The chickens were slaughtered and eviscerated. The crop content of each bird was weighed, visually examined, categorically sorted out and quantified. ...

...This study was conducted in November,... the season of ripening and harvesting of almost all food crops in general and cereal grains in particular in Ethiopia. The results of this study is in agreement with that of Momoh et al. (2010), who observed ... the crop content of scavenging chickens in the late dry season (January-March) within Makurdi Benue community of North Central Nigeria.

Cereal grains comprised the highest proportion (38%) of the crop content of the experimental chickens, without showing significant difference (df = 1, p>0.05) between the male and female experimental chickens. ...Insects, worms, ants and small snails were found to be collectively accountable for about 27.5% of the crop content of the experimental chickens (Table 1), followed by (28%) and (17%) insects/worms and green forages respectively and Kitchen waste constitutes the remaining 15% of the crop content. ...

The results of the laboratory chemical analysis of the crop content of the experimental chickens are shown in Table 2. ...

...The results of this study revealed that the nutrient content of the scavenging feed resource base of Seka Chekorsa district is below the requirements of the scavenging local chickens..."

From the introduction... "These are kept under traditional management system, which is characterized by small flock sizes, low input and output and periodic devastation of the flock by disease...."

..

 

[saysfaa]

The study was published in 2016.
This website https://fews.net/east-africa/ethiopia/food-security-outlook/february-2016

maps the degree of food security (edit for clarity: degree of food insecurity is how the map is labeled) in Ethiopia in 2016 by color coding it "minimal", "stressed", "crisis", "emergency", and "famine". With the exclamation mark where the area would be at least one phase worse if not for international humanitarian aid.

The region in the study was in a "minimal" zone, with no exclamation marks near it.

So it seems about as typical to "what chickens ate before commercial feeds" in much of the world as we are likely to find these days. And not skewed by Ethiopia often not being very food secure.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

If they’re surviving and reproducing, then it isn’t actually below their needs. Sure, it might be below the needs of a fat American coop chicken that has been artificially selected to live off of commercial feed for the past century. But that’s not the kind of chicken we’re talking about.

Its like comparing a golden retriever to a coyote.

 

[saysfaa]

Fair point.

If all you want is enough of them to have a long enough life span to lay enough viable eggs to have another generation then perhaps it could be called above their needs.

 

[saysfaa]

I do see your bigger point.... not every individual has the same needs. An ornamental breed can be just as healthy on less food than layer breed. Although I'm less sure about how much is amount and how much is composition of that amount - besides calcium, of course.

 

[Shadrach]

If they’re surviving and reproducing, then it isn’t actually below their needs. Sure, it might be below the needs of a fat American coop chicken that has been artificially selected to live off of commercial feed for the past century. But that’s not the kind of chicken we’re talking about.

Its like comparing a golden retriever to a coyote.

Yup, it's the same old problem.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I do see your bigger point.... not every individual has the same needs. An ornamental breed can be just as healthy on less food than layer breed. Although I'm less sure about how much is amount and how much is composition of that amount - besides calcium, of course.

I think they aren’t really ornamental as much as they are just hard-core survival chickens. A jack of all trades but a master of none (except survival). I bet they lay enough eggs for the locals to eat at least seasonally and reproduce enough to be eaten occasionally.

I used an analogy of a golden retriever vs a coyote, and I think that works in terms of survival needs. One that may apply more to human use is domestic turkey vs wild turkey. Wild turkeys don’t have the meat capacity or increased egg laying capacity of a wild turkey but a wild turkey can still be eaten and its eggs collected in season were one to stumble on a nest. I best the Ethiopian landrace chickens lay more than a wild turkey.

Unless a feed chain is ready to open up in Ethiopia and offer quality commercial feed for a penny per 50lb, I suspect the Ethiopians have exactly the kind of chickens they need to survive in their conditions.

I bet Europe and North America historically offered much better free range fair. Average size of the free range roosters in the study was around 2.5lbs. Historically free range gamefowl in Europe and North America were a pound or two larger than that at least.

 

[saysfaa]

I think yours aren't ornamental, although they probably to have lower feed needs to have good health. Some breeds are ornamental - maybe some of polish types?

Actually, my ideal breed or strain would lay 2 to 4 eggs per week for most of the year. As opposed to the layers pushed to lay as many as possible for the first year or two. And as opposed to the strains that lay 150 or so all during the spring and summer. Possibly, they already exist but I couldn't tell from the hatchery descriptions and haven't really looked into it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Way to bury the lead. Even before they get to the science, THIS is the money quote:

The total of 60 chicken (30 pullets and 30 cockerels with mean weight of 1.12 and 1.4 kg, respectively) at an age of 3-5 months were purchased on the basis of their physical appearance and informations provided by the participating households.

2.5# to 3.1# (roughly) chickens aged 13-22 weeks (91 - 155 days) at peak harvest!
That's smaller than my production reds (Golden Comets), which were purpose built for egg production and low body weight (to minimize feed costs)

 

[saysfaa]

...
Unless a feed chain is ready to open up in Ethiopia and offer quality commercial feed for a penny per 50lb, I suspect the Ethiopians have exactly the kind of chickens they need to survive in their conditions.
...

There is a lot of room between quality commercial feed designed for layers (or broilers) pushed as far toward their potential as people have been able to push and a handful of grain sometimes thrown to the laying hens only.

The report said the villages saw the need for a little extra food once pullets/hens started laying.

They didn't see the need for chicks to get extra. They might not have "periodic devastation of the flock by disease" as often if the chicks were fed even 15% protein instead of 10%. It doesn't have to be optimal to be a lot better when you start that far off. And that is during the harvest season - when food should be most available.

One possible reason they don't see the need is they don't have any chicks raised differently to compare their chicks to.