Wild Chicken populations?

[scyllarus]

Awesome, thank you guys. So they would prob need a place like florida... yet they also have a bunch more predators there.

Yep. I think it's simply that you can breed for flightiness and such, which helps them survive predators more, but it'll take...well, you'd probably need an established population in a temperate area and then generations upon generations upon generations in which you gradually push them north to evolve towards a chicken that's suited for winter areas.

 

[EdgeC]

Yep. I think it's simply that you can breed for flightiness and such, which helps them survive predators more, but it'll take...well, you'd probably need an established population in a temperate area and then generations upon generations upon generations in which you gradually push them north to evolve towards a chicken that's suited for winter areas.

Yeah, if they could survive the winter do you think the artificial influx of chickens(adding to their population every 18 days) and allowing the ones who survive to mate in the wild...artificially increase the speed at which they adapt and evolve?

 

[scyllarus]

Probably? But frankly, I don't know. It would depend on how many chickens are being released every time - if you're dropping in 2000 chickens, it's going to cause a whole event in the environment. If you're dropping in 10, maybe not, but you might still change the way predators interact with your theoretical territory - there are absolutely predators that are smart enough to realize that every X weeks, there's tasty new nuggets being let go from the human habitation, and they're likely to act accordingly.

 

[EdgeC]

Probably? But frankly, I don't know. It would depend on how many chickens are being released every time - if you're dropping in 2000 chickens, it's going to cause a whole event in the environment. If you're dropping in 10, maybe not, but you might still change the way predators interact with your theoretical territory - there are absolutely predators that are smart enough to realize that every X weeks, there's tasty new nuggets being let go from the human habitation, and they're likely to act accordingly.

I would be limited by my equipment and which atm would be 270 every 18 days

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That's not how that works or invasive species would not be a thing... sigh.

Sigh

Invasive species become invasive only when the conditions are favorable to them. Lots of edible food, little/no natural predators.

Chickens are on every continent. Where they can survive with 0 human help 365 days a year, there are already feral flocks. Just look at Florida and Hawaii

 

[Ridgerunner]

Mike Rowe caught feral chickens in Miamai Florida on one episode of Dirty Jobs. In the narrative they said they could not eliminate feral those chickens but had a group of people that tried to catch them, I think mostly for fun but also to try to keep the numbers down. I'll include a link to the episode.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1581963/

Several years ago, a forum member mentioned a flock that went feral in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and survived the winter there. They foraged a lot in grain fields that had been harvested and obviously ate snow for water. They survived that winter (they were a standard dual purpose breed but I cannot remember what breed) but his family ate them the following spring.

If you do a search on the internet you'll see that many cities or locations have feral chickens. In the US they are in the south. I did not see any identified in colder snowy places. In general they seemed to need an area with enough people that predators were kept in check but still have green spaces and woodlands where they can forage, nest, and roost. I've seen a few feral flocks in New Orleans but not many.

Growing up in Tennessee Dad had a flock that free ranged. Some slept in trees but most were in a hen house that was locked at night. Those chickens fed themselves throughout the year, but if there was snow on the ground we'd toss them some corn to supplement what they could find. We also had horses and cattle which we fed hay to all winter. That hay was tossed on the ground. The chickens foraged through that in winter so they had a nice supplement to whatever else they could find. We cut holes through the ice on the farm pond for the horses and cattle so the chickens had access to water. The flock was one rooster and 25 to 30 hens. We had plenty of eggs for our use and occasionally some would go to the country store to be traded for groceries. Life was simpler back then, I doubt you could find a store that would accept those eggs today. We ate chicken several times through the year.

The hens hatched and raised replacement chicks. The basic flock were essentially games. I remember Dad bringing home chicks twice, New Hampshire one time and Dominique the other, to bring in new genetics (genetic diversity) and improve size and productivity. I do not consider those chickens to have been feral because they did get predator protection, did get fed during snows, and had some great forage provided in winter.

 

[EdgeC]

Sigh

Invasive species become invasive only when the conditions are favorable to them. Lots of edible food, little/no natural predators.

Chickens are on every continent. Where they can survive with 0 human help 365 days a year, there are already feral flocks. Just look at Florida and Hawaii

Right, every invasive species has already invaded everywhere possible and we for sure have no issues with species being introduced into new areas... Tell them to not worry about those boars... if they don't already have boars there... then you don't need to worry.

 

[EdgeC]

Mike Rowe caught feral chickens in Miamai Florida on one episode of Dirty Jobs. In the narrative they said they could not eliminate feral those chickens but had a group of people that tried to catch them, I think mostly for fun but also to try to keep the numbers down. I'll include a link to the episode.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1581963/

Several years ago, a forum member mentioned a flock that went feral in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and survived the winter there. They foraged a lot in grain fields that had been harvested and obviously ate snow for water. They survived that winter (they were a standard dual purpose breed but I cannot remember what breed) but his family ate them the following spring.

If you do a search on the internet you'll see that many cities or locations have feral chickens. In the US they are in the south. I did not see any identified in colder snowy places. In general they seemed to need an area with enough people that predators were kept in check but still have green spaces and woodlands where they can forage, nest, and roost. I've seen a few feral flocks in New Orleans but not many.

Growing up in Tennessee Dad had a flock that free ranged. Some slept in trees but most were in a hen house that was locked at night. Those chickens fed themselves throughout the year, but if there was snow on the ground we'd toss them some corn to supplement what they could find. We also had horses and cattle which we fed hay to all winter. That hay was tossed on the ground. The chickens foraged through that in winter so they had a nice supplement to whatever else they could find. We cut holes through the ice on the farm pond for the horses and cattle so the chickens had access to water. The flock was one rooster and 25 to 30 hens. We had plenty of eggs for our use and occasionally some would go to the country store to be traded for groceries. Life was simpler back then, I doubt you could find a store that would accept those eggs today. We ate chicken several times through the year.

The hens hatched and raised replacement chicks. The basic flock were essentially games. I remember Dad bringing home chicks twice, New Hampshire one time and Dominique the other, to bring in new genetics (genetic diversity) and improve size and productivity. I do not consider those chickens to have been feral because they did get predator protection, did get fed during snows, and had some great forage provided in winter.

I have to check that stuff out, thanks!