What's the best breed to let run semi-feral?

[U_Stormcrow]

If you look to the last page of my project, you will see a photo of my most hopeful hatch to date. Then two close ups. Its my experience that a patterned bird is harder to spot than a solid black (or any other color) bird, and I commend your willingness to take on the task of crafting your own, for your own environbment, aided by the pressures of natural predation. Sorry about your Ranger - light, flighty birds are good for predators, yes, but they don't put meat on the table, or much egg either. The Ranger might have provided some useful genetics.

 

[raingarden]

Everything done in the chicken domestication process has been detrimental to the bird's ability to survive in the wild. Pure red jungle fowl probably do not exist any more because they have inbred with domestic chickens., But the closer you can get to RJF the more likely they are to survive on their own.. There are people selling what they call RJF. I think it is a little bit disingenuous but that is close as you can get.

A bird raised in a coop in the traditional way is unlikely to survive if released into the wild. The bird needs to have been raised by a ferel hen to begin with. The offspring of a broody hen who is very adept at free ranging in your local conditions may be the best place to start. Turn them loose with minimal supplemental feeding. Use just enough feed to bribe them to stay in the vacinity and let nature take it's course.

Mortality of young-of-the-year is going to be every high, just as it is in a wild population.. Something like 90 to 95% mortality should probably be expected.. If you can end up with one good pair after the first few tries then you may be on your way to success.

I think you should just forget about harvesting eggs or meat for five or ten years. Initially, any bird that can survive in the wild long enough to reproduce is too valuable to eat.

 

[Lizzy733]

Golden Campine is one I've stumbled across. They are quite small - at the bottom of the standard size scale, but lay around 200 medium size eggs per year, intelligent and known for their good predator evasion and are known for feed efficiency due to being good foragers.

They may not dress out to a large table bird, but their pheasanty look probably also lends to a more gamey flavour. They don't tend to go broody, but are quick to mature and sex. I have 4 in the brooder at the moment that are 2 weeks tomorrow. I noticed the comb sizing up in two of them last Monday. Their wings are already completely in, only one doesn't have a full tail and some have already started on their shoulders. I'm only just getting started with this breed, but so far they've lived up to their reputation.

They are quite a rare breed, so may be difficult to source though. Good luck in finding a good fit.

 

[Mrs. K]

Birds are only part of this equation. A lot is going to depend on your predators. Almost every place has predators, some worse than others.

For daytime predators - I have had fair luck with a good rooster. Not all roosters are good roosters, you want one that sees you first when you approach the flock, that keeps an eye on his girls. A rooster is really not much good until he is close to a year old, and some never get good.

If you get hit by predators- they will be back. Many people have been picked off faster than having a broody hen bring in chicks to counter the loss.

If you do get it balanced right, your egg production will probably be a bit less, but if you have enough birds, it may not be an issue.

Some people think brown camouflaged birds are best, but others have said, they look more like natural prey, and predators pick them off more so than the white birds. I have lost all colors to predators, with no color being better than the other.

 

[Farmlife16]

This is pretty much what I was thinking of doing, and letting nature do the culling for me. I've got a flock of 2 roos and 8 pullets right now that are pretty much in this realm. I bought a whole bunch of different birds and have some observations which could be helpful:

My "Ranger" chicken was the first to get eaten by a predator (dog). She was absolutely huge, and unfortunately, very slow. Don't be the slowest chicken y'all. She was also very docile, and laid every day from the time she was 21 weeks old. She was also shaping up to be a great mom, and foraged like a queen. She was not at all heat tolerant, and I didn't expect her natural lifespan to be more than 2-3 years. She would have stroked out or died of a heart attack. She'd pant at 72 degrees. I will buy more of these to raise for meat, but not as a flock foundation.

The dog attacks have resulted in several of my other breeds showing some predator savvy behavior. My Ancona made a beeline for the coop and went right in the dogproof door. My Crevecouer roo was in a tree (which, good for him, but he failed at his actual job), my Blue Andalusian was also in a tree. Everyone else scattered which meant the dog could only chase one at a time, which is also fairly savvy behavior in it's own way.



This. I just don't have the ability to pen them and the land is bountiful chicken habitat. They have a coop to go in, and there's water and food in it for winter and night time predator protection. They always go in to sleep, but otherwise just roam around.



Leghorns are really starting to sound like they might be the way to go. I was talking to a local friend and she mentioned them too.



Absolutely fantastic project and info. Thanks for sharing! I may join you in this effort.



Hah! I've definitely had to find my black roo a time or two when he missed the automatic night time coop door closing. In the rain. In the pitch black.



Honestly, I think I need about 2-3 times as many chickens as I have and just let nature take it's course. My coop isn't big enough to sleep that many though. I could probably fit about 4-6 more in there with enough room for them to sleep. It's 6 x 12.

Thanks everyone! Lots of stuff to think about!

Penedesencas also seem like a good breed and they are supposed to lay lovely chocolate eggs.

 

[3KillerBs]

So, to make sure I understand this, you'll provide shelter, feed, and water but you don't want to have any protective fencing?

How much of their feed do you expect them to obtain on their own?

As @U_Stormcrow pointed out, the better egg and meat producer they are the worse they're going to be at free living and obtaining a major portion of their diet on range.

Does your area already support a population of feral chickens? I could be wrong, but that seems to me to be the measure of the ability to let the chickens run wild successfully.

 

[Moe123]

I'm in Tennessee. Summers are brutal, winters get pretty chilly. I'm looking for a flock to pretty much sustain itself on my land, no fences, but a coop to go into at night and food water supplemented for free ranging. Basically just a step above feral. Looking for meat and eggs and baby chick raising. Any suggestions for breeds to look at?

Study the Icelandic breed. Get a guard dog too.

 

[Daiene]

I'm in Tennessee. Summers are brutal, winters get pretty chilly. I'm looking for a flock to pretty much sustain itself on my land, no fences, but a coop to go into at night and food water supplemented for free ranging. Basically just a step above feral. Looking for meat and eggs and baby chick raising. Any suggestions for breeds to look at?

Icelandic Chickens! I was about to get some and did some research and decided they’re are not the best ones for what I have to offer. But they would be a great fit to what you want!!!

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

I'm in Tennessee. Summers are brutal, winters get pretty chilly. I'm looking for a flock to pretty much sustain itself on my land, no fences, but a coop to go into at night and food water supplemented for free ranging. Basically just a step above feral. Looking for meat and eggs and baby chick raising. Any suggestions for breeds to look at?

Iowa blues are know for fighting off hawks and being protectors of the chicken....if you can find a pure breed breeder

 

[Kglassmo]

We had an Indian game rooster defend our flock against wild dogs when I was a kid. He was short, stocky, robust and could still use his spurs and fly into low branches; black feathers, gold flecks for camo. Dominiques can become fairly wild when not handled enough; black & white barring helps camo, roos r big and great defenders. Guinea hens are pretty wild if you want good wandering poultry to keep a lookout (they’re loud honkers..like geese) and cleanse your property of unwanted insects. They can fly pretty high away from predators. If you want steady source of eggs, not sure how well that works with wandering hens…they will lay them all over; predators will harvest. Good luck to you.