Management practices to improve livestock food production~meat, eggs, milk, etc.

[frustratedearthmother]

I agree with @Mini Horses - an open pasture vs. a wooded area will make aerial predation much more prevalent. It doesn't really have anything to do with someone saying "my birds don't get eaten and you're a bad person because yours do."

Having a place to hide vs. having to run for your life makes a big difference. My birds are cage and coop free. But, I have perimeter fences and smaller fenced areas also. Some stay in the front barnyard, some are in pastures with the goats/pigs/horses and dogs. None of them are behind closed doors at night. Most do choose to go under a roof at night and they have several open shelters to choose from. But, I do have a few that choose to roost on a fence post - totally in the open. They are still there in the morning.

Basically, the chickens can go where they want - including outside the perimeter occasionally. I rarely lose one, but it has happened. I've seen one eagle here in my entire life so that's not a big problem. We have bobcats that won't test the dogs nor will coyotes. But, dogs prefer to stay with the goats so sometimes the chickens are on their own. I have, on two occasions, found a chicken body with no head. No marks on the rest of the body. Owl maybe? Coon? I don't know but that's only happened twice in probably ten years. My own dog is the worst predator I have. Not the LGD's but the varmint dog. She can't stand something small that runs fast - so she gets 'em. Sometimes what she gets are small young birds. Happens when they come into "her" yard. She doesn't share her space!

I have used chicken tractors successfully when raising young ones. I don't over crowd them and I do move them frequently. They do well under those circumstances. I have seen many insects that are attracted to poo - not ones that run from it. Birds eat those insects along with the taller grasses in the tractor area. Move them, rinse, repeat. Works for me.

 

[Britesea]

I live in a area that is reputed to have the largest population of bald eagles in the lower 48. They are beautiful, but I get nervous when I see one hanging around the yard; we aren't allowed to shoot them of course. So far, we've only lost one bird (a duck) to aerial attack in 5 years of raising birds. We lost a couple others to the neighbor's dog until I helped her figure out how her dog was getting out. I have seen raccoons outside the property, but so far (knocking on wood here) I've never seen any indications of them coming into the yard- not even a knocked over trash can. The only idea I have is that our LGD patrols her little half acre religiously, and we have lots of trees, shrubs, and other shelters. (I made a "pergola" in one area out of a pallet and some 2x4's to give them another place to shelter in).

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Good and varied opinions about free range, what it means to different folks, and how, or if it's being accomplished safely in any given homesteading or commercial yard.

To educate the uneducated consumer who has some Polly Anna-ish vision of a bunch of hens happily tiptoeing through the tulips to the sound of music: Here's the USDA definition of "free range eggs":

The USDA's definition of “free range” for eggs is that they are “produced by hens housed in a building, room, or area that allows for … continuous access to the outdoors during their laying cycle. The outdoor area may be fenced and/or covered with netting-like material.”Apr 25, 2017

Now, compare the USDA definition to the idealistic idea of the hens who are tiptoeing through the tulips. In a commercial operation, those hens are housed in HUGE chicken houses that contain THOUSANDS of hens. By definition, if there is a pop door open somewhere in that building, those hens are free range. Now, we all know that chickens are flock animals. They do not live in flocks of THOUSANDS. Animal behaviorists state that a hen at the very most recognizes perhaps flock members up to 100. Any birds outside of that number, and outside of the range of that 100 birds who a hen associates with in the hen house are considered to be strangers. (typically, each hen has about 1 s.f. of space to live in, though those standards are being modified a bit.) So, the hen at one end of that building is never going to pass through the many thousands of strange hens to approach a pop door that most likely she's never seen, and most likely doesn't know even exists to step out into the sunshine.

So, IMHO: Free range is at best a dubious term, being thrown around with little thought to how the perception of what it means varies from one person to the next. Some suburban folks can "free range" their flock within the confines of their fenced yard. A lucky hen in such circumstances has access to shrubbery, mulched areas, gardens, lawns. The unlucky suburban FR hen has only closely manicured grass which is heavily sprayed to kill all "weeds" and insects.

Some folks say their flock is "supervised" FR. Those birds are let out only when the owner is present to protect them from predators. We all know that life gets in the way of ideals. If I depended on my time to supervise, my birds would not have much yard time! Not to mention, a fox or hawk can swoop in and grab a bird from under my nose. I've encountered fox, coon, and hawk, all within 30' of where I stood in my yard.

Electronet, or tape/wire strand electric fences provide a layer of protection. LGD provide a SIGNIFICANT layer of protection. And a standard covered run, if large enough, or a tractor, if LARGE, and moved often enough to give the flock fresh grass every day are IMO far better than the USDA's reality of what a free range chicken is.

Much can be done to enhance the options for the confined chicken: Deep composting litter, availability to sprouts, rotated run areas so the birds are not always on the same ground. Even a run within a run can be used to advantage. I have a 500 s.f. deep composting COVERED run which is then enveloped by a 164 ft. electronet.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Egg shape for gender selection protocol - what shape are you looking for to have more pullets?

Here's a previous post about the topic, with a link to my thread on BYC:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutrition-and-gender-and-inducing-broodiness.958517/

In a nut shell, I've had fairly consistent results with this method: My pullet ratio with random egg selection has consistently been about 40%. By doing egg shaped selection, my pullet ratio has consistently improved to 60%. Does this always work? Are there other factors involved? Who knows? But, I will say that it cost nothing to experiment along these lines. Based on 4 years of experimentation, my results have been consistent except for one hatch in which I had an overall poor hatch.

I gather about a week's worth of eggs. If I have a hen who lays a distinctive egg, so I can pick her eggs out from the rest, that works to an advantage. In that case, I line her eggs up, and choose the eggs which have the closest length to diameter ratio. In other words, those eggs are more round, not as oblong. My flock is large enough that there are very few hens whose eggs I can identify. In that case, I lay the eggs out on the table, and choose the roundest eggs, eliminating about 2/3 of them from the "to be hatched" pile. If I have eggs which MAY belong to a particular hen, I line those up for comparison, and choose from those. Studies have also shown that larger eggs tend to produce cockerels. In my experience, I've found that large eggs have a poorer hatch rate anyways. So, I eliminate those.

I also put my flock on increased protein and multi vits several weeks before I intend to collect hatching eggs.

 

[PatriciaPNW]

Thank you! It can’t hurt and I had never thought of “prenatal” hen care but it makes sense. I make sure broody hens have food and water close by and put them in a wire-enclosed area because I think it makes them more likely to stay the course. Starting with the eggs themselves makes sense too.

 

[baymule]

My land is totally enclosed in 2x4" non climb horse wire, all the pastures too. Definition of free range? I could care less. Paris is my chicken guard and will leap in the air at a hawk. But she is 10 years old and is slowing way down. Whatever system that works for you is the best one, wether totally cooped or never cooped or anything inbetween.

 

[Beekissed]

My old dog, Lucy, an Akbash would also leap at aerial preds....the eagles would land in the next field to feed on dead chickens from the chicken litter spread on hay fields but they never bothered with live chickens ranging in the next field over.

Ben also is death on aerial predators and got cut on the muzzle from a great horned owl while defending the flock.

A good dog is imperative if someone wants to truly free range birds, plus having places for the birds to run to and hide, and birds that know enough to do so.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My land is totally enclosed in 2x4" non climb horse wire, all the pastures too. Definition of free range? I could care less. Paris is my chicken guard and will leap in the air at a hawk. But she is 10 years old and is slowing way down. Whatever system that works for you is the best one, wether totally cooped or never cooped or anything inbetween.

You have managed to whittle this whole discussion of free range vs. other management styles down to the least common denominator in 3 sentences or less!

 

[Beekissed]

I'll be trying to implement some of Judy's methods to improve pasture here, by using the sheep and strip grazing what area I have and also gathering all the round bales for free or cheap that I can get to roll out on the land here.

I've already rolled out 14.5 bales that I got for free on the land this summer.

This should improve pasture for the chickens as well, so it will benefit both species of livestock. It will also allow me to stock a little heavier than I had initially envisioned once I can get a good layer of carbon and growth going in the paddock areas and then expand the paddock areas to make them larger.

 

[Beekissed]

Some powerful information from Greg Judy on pasture and soil development strategies: