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Forums
Raising BackYard Chickens
Feeding & Watering Your Flock
Debate on food, free range and egg quality...
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<blockquote data-quote="Shadrach" data-source="post: 25958706" data-attributes="member: 521413"><p>This is basically what I got taught on my uncles farm when I was young. He believed it made for a fitter breed. He was also a great believer in cross breeds rather than heritage breeds when it came to keeping free range chickens in the UK. I think he would have chosen local, or land race breeds should he have lived in another country.</p><p>It's funny how these early influences in life shape ones views later in life. I haven't been quite as hands off as he was, but with all the free range chickens I've known or worked with, when they leave their coop in the morning they are on their own to a great extent. I put more effort into saving a chicken after a predator attack, or an fight were they got injured if they reached adulthood.</p><p>Terrible though it may seem, I didn't spend much time looking for chicks and juveniles after the first couple of losses. About 50% of chicks hatched and reared at my uncles made it, about 60% where I worked in Hertfordshire and in Catalonia for the first couple of years about 30% survival. I've often wondered how these percentages compare to a fully feral group. It took at least two generation for the tribes in Catalonia to adapt better, largely because the seniors showed them the ropes. When I left the survival rate was past 60%.</p><p>Like yourself, I place a high value of seniors (hens in particular) and had 8, 9 and 10 year old senior tribe hens.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shadrach, post: 25958706, member: 521413"] This is basically what I got taught on my uncles farm when I was young. He believed it made for a fitter breed. He was also a great believer in cross breeds rather than heritage breeds when it came to keeping free range chickens in the UK. I think he would have chosen local, or land race breeds should he have lived in another country. It's funny how these early influences in life shape ones views later in life. I haven't been quite as hands off as he was, but with all the free range chickens I've known or worked with, when they leave their coop in the morning they are on their own to a great extent. I put more effort into saving a chicken after a predator attack, or an fight were they got injured if they reached adulthood. Terrible though it may seem, I didn't spend much time looking for chicks and juveniles after the first couple of losses. About 50% of chicks hatched and reared at my uncles made it, about 60% where I worked in Hertfordshire and in Catalonia for the first couple of years about 30% survival. I've often wondered how these percentages compare to a fully feral group. It took at least two generation for the tribes in Catalonia to adapt better, largely because the seniors showed them the ropes. When I left the survival rate was past 60%. Like yourself, I place a high value of seniors (hens in particular) and had 8, 9 and 10 year old senior tribe hens. [/QUOTE]
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Raising BackYard Chickens
Feeding & Watering Your Flock
Debate on food, free range and egg quality...
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