Ecological impact of extreme free range?

[Wild Iris]

We live in central Alabama, on family land which has been largely left to do its own thing for about 50 years. My husband is working to restore it to its more traditional form and encourage native plant species--removing invasive plants, using controlled burns, opening up the canopy, etc.

I am very interested in the possibility of a flock of free range chickens (likely game chickens or some mix thereof) and their effects on the balance of the ecosystem. I know several of you have chickens that you free range 24/7. How large are those flocks? How many acres do they tend to inhabit, when left to their own devices? Have you noticed a change in the plant life? The insects? Do they compete with native birds (turkey, quail, etc.) for food and habitat, or do they coesixt easily? Are there certain plants that they will eat to extinction?

 

[Poultrybonkers]

We live in central Alabama, on family land which has been largely left to do its own thing for about 50 years. My husband is working to restore it to its more traditional form and encourage native plant species--removing invasive plants, using controlled burns, opening up the canopy, etc.

I am very interested in the possibility of a flock of free range chickens (likely game chickens or some mix thereof) and their effects on the balance of the ecosystem. I know several of you have chickens that you free range 24/7. How large are those flocks? How many acres do they tend to inhabit, when left to their own devices? Have you noticed a change in the plant life? The insects? Do they compete with native birds (turkey, quail, etc.) for food and habitat, or do they coesixt easily? Are there certain plants that they will eat to extinction?

Your just gonna end up with no chickens as they are the most easy prey there is...so your predators will increase is all

 

[NatJ]

I know several of you have chickens that you free range 24/7. How large are those flocks? How many acres do they tend to inhabit, when left to their own devices? Have you noticed a change in the plant life? The insects? Do they compete with native birds (turkey, quail, etc.) for food and habitat, or do they coesixt easily? Are there certain plants that they will eat to extinction?

Not exactly what you have in mind, but here is one experience I've had:

--chickens in Alaska, on the Kenai Peninsula, allowed out of their run for part of each day during the summer
--flock size about 7 (minor variation from year to year)
--entire property was a little over an acre, but at least 3/4 of it was unaffected by the chickens. Each day when the chickens were let out, they started foraging right away by the coop, then drifted slowly further away as they kept foraging, then got herded home when the people decided it had been long enough.
--coop was right at the edge of an area with small trees (between about 1" and 6" trunk diameters, I think, probably mostly 3-4").

At first, there was quite a bit of undergrowth: clumps of grasses, small wildflowers, little bushes, tree seedlings. Over several years, the amount of undergrowth went way down. This was probably because of the chickens scratching in the leaves, considering that it was most obvious in the areas close to the coop, and less obvious or not obvious at all in places further away. I think some of the little trees grew big enough that they no longer looked like "undergrowth," and I am quite confident that the chickens either ate seeds or scratched up seedlings, which prevented new trees from getting started.

This was some decades ago, so I cannot go back and check specific details, but I remember that the basic pattern was very clear: chickens caused the woods to be more open and less brushy, which made it nicer for people to walk through.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with the above. In my experience, the rooster also, has quite a bit of influence. I have had roosters that did not like to get too far from the coop, and around the coop, has alway had more damage.

But I have had roosters that were confident in taking their girls quite a ways away from the coop/run. The more you let them out, the farther they tend to roam.

The predator issue is a real part of raising chickens. I have a very large chainlink fenced run and shed like coop. My birds can go into lock down if needed. When you get hit by a predator, you need to go into lock down, cause they will be back.

Mrs K