Chickens in nature

[Skyeknight]

I would love to hear more about the management side of keeping chickens this way. How many hens and roosters do you have? An estimate would be fine too. Do they move and behave as one big flock or are there multiple smaller flocks? Do you still feed them or do they fully get their food from foraging? If you do feed them how much do you give? About how much space does the flock actually use?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I'm making this thread to show people that chickens can do fine in more natural settings. My chickens are completely organic, live outside 24/7 and sleep in trees. They spend most of their time running around the forest and swamp, existing around countless different types of wild animals

I don't think the gamefowl need me at all, but the production chickens do. Keeping a semi-feral flock is a balancing act of these two genepools- survivors and producers. Currently I'm aiming for 3/4th dual-purpose, 1/4th gamefowl (dunghill) mutts that are camoflaged with the environment. I believe this is the optimal balance for my set-up to keep food on the table

Here's an assortment of pictures since I began keeping chickens, going roughly from old to new. It's been a long journey and I've learned much over the years:
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Credit to my wife for taking most of the good pictures here. Also my LGD deserves credit for making this all much easier. I did this for a year and a half without a dog, which was much more stressful
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I'll post more in the future

Love this silver hen, do you have any more pictures of her?