Question about chickens

[Gwenllian]

We have lost quite a few of our free-roaming lovely chickens to wild birds and animals these past two years. :(

So we have decided to extend the chicken coop, which means they have to stay indoors. They have almost eaten all the grass and other plants that are growing in there.
So I was wondering since they love their greens do they also eat grass and nettles and dandelions, even when they are not that fresh?

They also eat grains, but the young ones seem to prefer plants.

Thanks!

 

[Nienna]

Have you thought about making a mobile chicken coop? I'm sure that if you google this, you will find some construction plans.

 

[seekr]

Not sure how big your flock is, but in addition to mobile coop/pens you might look into electric poultry netting

_http://www.kencove.com/fence/detail.php?code=nspcg&gclid=CJf6jqL236oCFQ9S7AodTQnP8g

 

[MnSportsman]

Have you thought about making a mobile chicken coop? I'm sure that if you google this, you will find some construction plans.

I offer, that if you search the term "chicken tractor", which is what I believe Nienna is meaning when shes says "mobile chicken coop". you may have better results in your search.

They are useful if your yard/land is low cut & free of many obstacles to have to manuever around ,should you make/acquire a "chicken tractor"
:)

Having a dog or a larger fowl. like a turkey, goose or a peacock might be solution also. In order to dissuade the predators a bit.

G'luck
JB/MnSportsman

 

[Mr.Anderson]

The 'tractor' is a good idea. If that's not possible you might try chicken fence over the top as a roof of the fenced area as well as the other suggestions for large birds etc. I think the chickens prefer a paleo diet too, (few grains). They love to pick through cow pies if you have any. Also you might find some good info from Joel Salatin at his Polyface Farm website. Hope this helps.

 

[shellycheval]

My experience with chickens is that most of the predation happens at night. We had success protecting them most of the time by locking them up at night in a small, varmint proof coop and letting them roam around during the day.

If there is cover, bushes, tall grass,etc. to hide in, this can minimize loss to hawks and eagles and might be a good trade-off so your chickens can pursue the healthiest diet and lifestyle they and you would prefer.

A couple of bigger, more aggressive fowel mixed in with the chickens, like has been suggested, is a good idea too.
Good luck.
shellycheval

 

[go2]

We have lost quite a few of our free-roaming lovely chickens to wild birds and animals these past two years. :(

So we have decided to extend the chicken coop, which means they have to stay indoors. They have almost eaten all the grass and other plants that are growing in there.
So I was wondering since they love their greens do they also eat grass and nettles and dandelions, even when they are not that fresh?

They also eat grains, but the young ones seem to prefer plants.

Thanks!

I raised free roaming chickens for meat and eggs for a couple of decades in Southern Iowa. Raccoons are the nocturnal predator and fox the daylight predator which like chicken for dinner in that area. Mink or weasels are a real problem if they get in the night coop. Chickens were the children’s chore and I well remember the horror when I found about fifty chickens dead one morning when I was a child. The mink or weasel killed for the killing by biting the back of the chicken’s neck. Anyway a small tight coop with roosts protects the chickens at night. We watered and fed a little grain in the coop so the chickens got used to returning home at night. The egg laying cubby holes were in the coop as well, although some free roaming hens liked to lay in hidden corners outside when they were broody.

We wintered about a dozen hens and two roosters, which gave a good breeding population in the spring. They usually raised fifty or sixty young in the spring and summer. Most modern egg laying breeds don’t have the natural instinct to breed and raise young. I solved this problem by getting Bantam and Arracunas to breed the egg laying Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. The Leghorns lay a lot of eggs and the other two breeds are big meaty chickens. I put eggs under the broody Bantam and Arracuna hens and soon we had a hybrid flock of big aggressive chickens that could reproduce itself every year and provide about fifty eating chickens and more than enough eggs for four people, year around.

The Bantams are small aggressive birds whose wild genetics serve a free roaming, self reproducing flock well. The roosters are real strutters. The hybrid flock were big meaty chickens with instincts to brood and raise young. Now, the family life of chickens is endlessly fascinating and entertaining. The rooster attracts or steals a harem of six or seven hens. That is about all he can protect and keep satisfied. He will usually have an alpha hen that helps manage chicken life. It is often a matriarch who raised the young hens. The rooster is the guard who watches for hawks and fox or other roosters trying to steal his hens. I saw a lot skirmishes over hens who stray from the watchful eye of the -John Thomas- of the flock. The real problems started if I left too many young roosters grow to adulthood. They would fight to death to usurp the older -John Thomas- of the flock. I didn’t let that happen often, but enough to know the rooster fighting instinct that attracts gamblers to a blood sport.

I was the fox that ate the chickens. It took the chickens a couple of months to figure out that when I slipped into the coop and took a couple of young roosters they were never seen again. By fall the friendly chickens treated me like I was a fox and they would fly into the trees and not come home to the coop at night. I had to be sly to keep the flock from going completely wild. Oh, the eggs from a small free roaming chicken flock are the tastiest eggs I have ever eaten, especially with plenty of thick sliced bacon. Mariama, I hope you find some of these meandering thoughts on free roaming chickens useful.

Edit: I just learned some British slang. That's great.

 

[Gwenllian]

Thank you all so much for your answers. :D

My partner built a chicken taxi (the way we say it) last year, but it didn't work out that well. It is now part of their playground which indeed has chicken fence over the top.

It is true that most of the chickens were killed during the night or early in the morning. These were the independent ones that refused to retire to their secure and " varmint proof" coop.

Our lovely (but small) rooster was killed defending his chickens by birds while they were all in the vicinity of larger shrubs and when it was still light.

We lost two of our young chickens just a few weeks ago during the day, again to birds and during the day. Last week the targeted chicken got away, but was in severe shock afterwards.

The dog did nothing! The rooster ditto. He sounded the alarm, but hid under the bushes. So much for protection! He was bred in a machine. I am sure that is where he lost his protection skills. And came over from our neighbour's house and never left.

I was wondering how geese mix with chickens for instance. Do they stay together? And are they only aggressive towards strangers?

Thanks go2 for that great account of chicken adventures. They are wonderful animals, I didn't how wonderful they were. I was born and raised in a city.
They are intelligent, too. They knew you were the fox.

I will look into Bantam chickens and others as well. Ours are too tame for this world. Also, we have to get another rooster...

Mr Anderson, I will have a look at Polyface farm. I had never heard of Joel Salatin before.
Cow pies, what a good idea. I will ask my neighbour.
I also prefer the paleo diet for our chickens. Thanks for reminding me. I am still fairly new to this diet and reading the Life without Bread thread and book.

Thank you all.