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How old do chickens have to be before you can free range them?

Can chickens survive on being free range only?

  • So we have about 20 chickens. And, if the economy were to collapse (not trying to get into politics) we had to be 100% resistant on our chickens and the food we grow on our land, we obviously wouldnt be able to give our chickens there feed everyday. So, would chickens be able to survive on what they eat out of the ground and eat being free range only?...oh and also just a side question if anyone knows, having to be able to survive on your chickens only would mean we would have to breed our own chickens since we wouldnt be able to just go buy new ones from the local feed store, so is it bad if you eat chickens that are "inbred" because eventually somehwere down the line the chickens our going to be pretty much mixed breeds that are inbred..any answer helps, thanks.

  • Answer:

    Chickens originated as free range birds in the jungles before humans caught and contained them. Some still survive there. As long as there are bugs etc for them to eat they can make it without us. No one is concerned if they are interbred. They don't need our hand outs to survive. In the temperate zones where a lot of humans live and maintain chickens, we believe that they need our warm buildings and hand outs because they no longer know how to survive on their own. However, in most parts of the US the introduced Chinese pheasant, a close cousin of the wild chicken was introduced as a game bird. it has survived and flourished in cold and seemly impossible conditions in such areas as Minnesota and South Dakota where winter conditions seem impossible for birds to survive, at times reaching into the minus 50F and lower. The winter ground is buried in heaps of snow. Come spring and the songs of the pheasant roosters are heard upon the land. By summer time, the fields teem with pheasants again. The chickens we eat everyday are inbred to produce the specific breeds that we both eat and use for our egg production. If they were left to breed among themselves they would revert back to jungle fowl and be just as good as the originals that we first domesticated. Once they survive the first winter, they seem to do quite well even in pretty difficult areas. Rather than worry about the chickens survival, it may be our own that is the most difficult to maintain in the collapsed economy. Don't worry, we will both somehow make it through even the most difficult of times. We always have up to this time anyway.

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i m Poultry farm manager and as far as my experience is concerned the poultry raised in free range and in natural environment is more delicious and healthy as well as more resistant to diseases, the only draw back of range is that you may have low egg production as compared with commercial feed. your second concern is about eating inbred poultry.there is no problem in eating inbred poultry its just psychological thinking.

Shahid

Chickens can eat grass a bit but you need food for a time of limited income. Store a bucket of WHeat and have a coffee grinder. Learn to make bread by growing yeast on the stove eh. You can store flour and sugar too but I dont. Need some water for when the power is down . Oh Buy seed machine wheat . It is clean What country are you in anyhow?

SunnyD

Yes,chickens survive o being free range.Free space is good for chickens health and eat different types of foods.

Naser

Some breeds can most of the year but egg production will drop and not feeding them will cause them to roam further and further and get eaten. winter time you will have to feed in most states. Yes chickens may have started as wild birds....so did ALL domestic animals including pets. But that doesn't mean they still are or can survive. Modern breeds are NOT suitable for free range. Most heritage breeds are BUT free range means a far higher predation rate, so unless you have a dog that will not kill chickens, you will lose many to predators. More importantly the asker is asking whether he/she will have to supplement their feed, free range does NOT mean you do not have to. It only means they get to roam around. The released pheasants were NOT domesticated. They were a mix of golden, green, lady Amherst and Sichuan pheasants. The inbreeding produced the 'ringneck' which is not native to anywhere. But the himilayas of china can be VERY cold which is where their cold tolerance comes from.

Jeff Sadler

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