Forest raised chickens vs. pasture raised

[mpguay]

Hello friends.

I have 65 chicks and 15 turkey babies. Their coops are in the center of a 40 acre parcel, mostly wooded. we have about 12 acres of pasture. I havent let them out of the coops yet. The coops are surrounded with Premier1 electric netting and a solar charger.

I plan to have them free range outside the electric netting.

Do you think they would find more protein in the woods than on pasture?
Would hawk predation be worse in the woods or pasture? This worries me.
Will the hens want to nest in the woods rather than in nest boxes?
Eggs or meat taste different?

Does anyone keep forest raised chickens?

Your advice is priceless. thanks.

 

[mpguay]

I found one good thread:

http://www.the-coop.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=103132&page=1

Any other input?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Mine like to free range in the pasture and the woods. They get different foods in each.

The pasture provides them with a lot of fresh green feed. When I was younger, my chickens always acted starved for green feed in the spring, so I started offering some in the winter for them. Green feed contains nutrition that isn't in a typical chicken feed. They also catch a lot of insects that fly or crawl. The pasture also has leafy legumes, that provide additional protein.

The woods provides leaf litter and all the things that live under it. They happily spend many hours a day, scratching through the leaf litter and eating all the things they find there. That might be their most favorite activity. I also see them catch mosquitoes out of the air. My Faverolles have always seemed to do this the most, for some reason.

With perimeter fencing and dogs, my only worry has been hawks and that's usually in the pasture. I don't free range much during the peak of the hawk migrations, unless I'm out there. The rest of the time, we don't have too much of a problem, but I pay attention if I hear hawks or the woods suddenly go perfectly quiet. It's normal for us to hear a lot of bird song and vocalizations. We lost our best dog to cancer, that would watch and go after hawks. Our newest dog has been starting to alert for hawks and go after them, now, though. That's a real blessing. No hawks have been injured, just chased away. All the dogs have watched for ground predators and will go after them.

I never lost a chicken to hawks during the years they were pastured with my sheep. They always stayed in the area the sheep were grazing. They moved along as the sheep did and rested with them, also. They also followed the sheep into the woods, when they went up there to browse the undergrowth. I think any type of livestock grazing with chickens tends to deter the hawks, if the chickens stay with them.

For me, if I didn't have perimeter fencing, livestock and at least one good dog, I'd have significant losses free ranging here. Hawks, foxes and other peoples dogs have all been issues for me in the past. At night, even more predators come out, but the coop is extremely safe. So, that's been my experience, if it helps.

Edited to add that the eggs and meat have all been delicious.

 

[mpguay]

Thank you do much for the input!

Today,my 5 weeks olds ventured into the woods and seemed to love it. so many things to scratch up!

I didnt think of hawk migration, we have nesting hawks here. Do you find that its the migraters that go for chickens?

I know we also have owls, but hopefully they will stick to nighttime hunting when my birds are safe and sound.

Thank you again.

 

[tniron]

Hello friends.

I have 65 chicks and 15 turkey babies. Their coops are in the center of a 40 acre parcel, mostly wooded. we have about 12 acres of pasture. I havent let them out of the coops yet. The coops are surrounded with Premier1 electric netting and a solar charger.

I plan to have them free range outside the electric netting.

Do you think they would find more protein in the woods than on pasture?
Would hawk predation be worse in the woods or pasture? This worries me.
Will the hens want to nest in the woods rather than in nest boxes?
Eggs or meat taste different?

Does anyone keep forest raised chickens?

Your advice is priceless. thanks.

You asked many of the questions I wanted to so thank you.

 

[Biologrady]

Out hens prefer the forest shade in summer. They go back and forth to the woods all day, crossing lawn. Less venturing into the pasture. We have had some close calls with hawks, but the only successful predator was probably a coyote, or a bear. Carried her off without leaving any trace at the edge of the woods, mid day.

 

[Biologrady]

Oh, and our eggs are a deep orange, very tasty!

 

[tniron]

Oh, and our eggs are a deep orange, very tasty!

I read somewhere that is due to the increased beta carotene in free range eggs.

 

[waldeneffect]

We've been experimenting with a forest pasture for our flock.

Here's a blog post we made summing up a year's worth of data on the subject.

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/One-year-old_forest_pasture/