"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

From: "Janet Baraclough"
Subject: Cow manure fertiliser
Date: 02 October 2003 22:25

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:


My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc. They
constantly scratch and peck, foraging for food, even when they have
ample commercial food cut into peck-sized pieces and served up in a
clean container.The yolk colour and taste of eggs and meat from chickens
fed that way is superb; that's what, as a chicken keeper, I classify as
freerange chicken.

Also, hens dustbath. 4 chickens, put in a fenced grassed run the size
of a living room, will soon peck, scratch and dustbath it into a bare
earth run devoid of life. One way round this is a moveable run to
conserve the grass, and give the birds access to fresh supplies of worms
etc. Or, you let them run loose on such a large area that they can never
wear down the herbage, which is what we did. We kept a handful of
chickens on almost 4 acres and they made no impression on it at all.

According to you, then, a "range" may be subdivided into "runs" which are
used consecutively.
Have I got it right?
If so, it sounds like an eminently wise way to organise a proper chicken
farm.

Apologies. Not only did the topic line vanish, but the attributions got
mangled.

Franz

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 11:23:49 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

From: "Janet Baraclough"
Subject: Cow manure fertiliser
Date: 02 October 2003 22:25

The message
from "Franz Heymann" contains these
words:


My curiousity drives me to display my ignorance: What is involved in
keeping chickens in a run, and what constitutes a free range chicken?

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc. They
constantly scratch and peck, foraging for food, even when they have
ample commercial food cut into peck-sized pieces and served up in a
clean container.The yolk colour and taste of eggs and meat from chickens
fed that way is superb; that's what, as a chicken keeper, I classify as
freerange chicken.

Also, hens dustbath. 4 chickens, put in a fenced grassed run the size
of a living room, will soon peck, scratch and dustbath it into a bare
earth run devoid of life. One way round this is a moveable run to
conserve the grass, and give the birds access to fresh supplies of worms
etc. Or, you let them run loose on such a large area that they can never
wear down the herbage, which is what we did. We kept a handful of
chickens on almost 4 acres and they made no impression on it at all.

According to you, then, a "range" may be subdivided into "runs" which are
used consecutively.
Have I got it right?
If so, it sounds like an eminently wise way to organise a proper chicken
farm.

If he only has two chickens, I think 4 acres would be o.k. without the
runs. Another problem would be to find their eggs.
How many chickens in a handful? I'd have thought approximately one.
How big is a run?
Is this why the chicken crossed the road?
..........
--
Martin

In article ,
Franz Heymann wrote:

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc.

Grass? I think that is a bit misleading. They certainly will eat
grass seeds, and even some grass roots, but I think that most of the
grass (leaves) they eat is by accident! They certainly don't graze
it, the way that genuine grass eaters do, though I can believe that
they will eat the youngest shoots. When I have observed their runs,
they have eliminated the grass mainly by scratching it up.

Can they even digest grass (i.e. the leaves)? I don't know how geese
do it, but most mammals need specialised systems to do so - it is a
notoriously indigestible plant.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In article ,
Franz Heymann wrote:

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc.

Grass? I think that is a bit misleading.

Not at all. Have you ever kept free range chickens ?

They certainly will eat
grass seeds, and even some grass roots, but I think that most of the
grass (leaves) they eat is by accident! They certainly don't graze
it, the way that genuine grass eaters do, though I can believe that
they will eat the youngest shoots. When I have observed their runs,
they have eliminated the grass mainly by scratching it up.

Can they even digest grass (i.e. the leaves)? I don't know how geese
do it, but most mammals need specialised systems to do so - it is a
notoriously indigestible plant.

Grazing mammals need a specialised digestive system to extract
sufficient nutrition from their diet of grass and leaves. Poultry eat a
much wider diet including animal protein.
Chickens who have the opportunity eat a lot of grass, intentionally,
just as geese do. They pull or snip stems/leaves of grass in the beak
then swallow it down without chewing. It's well enough digested to be
unrecognisable in droppings; presumably it gets ground up in the
gizzard. It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.

Janet.

The message
from martin contains these words:


If he only has two chickens, I think 4 acres would be o.k. without the
runs. Another problem would be to find their eggs.

Not at all. Mine laid almost all their eggs in the nest boxes in the
shed where they slept at night; either early in the morning before they
were let out, or returning later to do so.(Happy free range hens also
return to roost in the shed at dusk, entirely of their own accord).

A hen can obviously feel an egg coming down and will start to make the
"egg coming" noise and look for a suitable spot (dim, safe, dry). Well
brought up free range hens will normally return up to a hundred yards
from ranging to the shed, deposit the egg in the nest, and make the
noise for "I have just done an egg". Then she enjoys a snack of pellets
or corn and returns to her outdoor life. Very occasionally a hen gets
taken short and drops the egg en route; but the sound commentary tells
all. (Even my dogs learned this and would race off to find the stray
egg. Shamefully, they would then scoff it. My grandfather's dog would
very carefully pick it up and take it, undamaged, to a human.)

Bantams and broody breeds usually lay out deliberately (in one spot)
when the urg to be a mother overcomes them. Battery breeds don't do that
because the brooding instinct has been completely bred out of them.

How many chickens in a handful? I'd have thought approximately one.

Er, technically, yes :-). When I used a commercial battery hybrid
breed, one hen could produce well over 200 eggs per year. We kept
varying numbers according to how many people were living at home.

Janet

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 18:20:37 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:


If he only has two chickens, I think 4 acres would be o.k. without the
runs. Another problem would be to find their eggs.

Not at all. Mine laid almost all their eggs in the nest boxes in the
shed where they slept at night; either early in the morning before they
were let out, or returning later to do so.(Happy free range hens also
return to roost in the shed at dusk, entirely of their own accord).

I have memories of finding chicken eggs in odd places on the farm,
where I played, when I was a small kid. I am sure the hens were
happy. Perhaps they were badly educated or not brought up properly:-)


A hen can obviously feel an egg coming down and will start to make the
"egg coming" noise and look for a suitable spot (dim, safe, dry). Well
brought up free range hens will normally return up to a hundred yards
from ranging to the shed,

A hundred yards would put parts of a 4 acre site out of range?
--
Martin

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 00:56:11 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.

and not the maize pellets that you feed them?
--
Martin

The message
from martin contains these words:

A hundred yards would put parts of a 4 acre site out of range?

Depends on the shape of the plot and where the henhouse is.

In the centre of a square plot, no.

At one end or corner of a rectangular plot, lots of it.

HTH

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 00:56:11 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.

and not the maize pellets that you feed them?

No.

Greenstuff, wormses, sluggles, incest etc. But maize just provides starch.

I did an experiment on my smallholding: fed chickens in one run layers'
pellets, and in another, layers' pellets and wabbit pellets. The one
with the wabbit pellets (not ·22) had darker yolks.

So afterwards I used to sling in lots of grass cuttings as well as
throw-outs from the local greengrocer.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 16:38:26 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

A hundred yards would put parts of a 4 acre site out of range?

Depends on the shape of the plot and where the henhouse is.

In the centre of a square plot, no.

depending on whether it's 4 English Irish or Scottish acres

http://www.answerbus.com/cgi-bin/ans...2Ban%2Bacre%3F

At one end or corner of a rectangular plot, lots of it.

a circular plot with the hen house in the middle would be optimum :-)
--
Martin

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 17:01:43 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 00:56:11 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.

and not the maize pellets that you feed them?

No.

Greenstuff, wormses, sluggles, incest etc. But maize just provides starch.

I did an experiment on my smallholding: fed chickens in one run layers'
pellets, and in another, layers' pellets and wabbit pellets. The one
with the wabbit pellets (not ·22) had darker yolks.

So afterwards I used to sling in lots of grass cuttings as well as
throw-outs from the local greengrocer.

In France the chickens sold with yellow skins are supposed to be maize
fed.
--
Martin

The message
from martin contains these words:

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 00:56:11 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

It's the grass that imparts the deep colour to truly free-range
egg yolks.

and not the maize pellets that you feed them?

That's correct. Hens which eat only pellets (or pellets with food
colourant, or pellets and grain) produce the paler insipid yolks you
find in battery eggs.

Janet

In article ,
Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In article ,
Franz Heymann wrote:

Chickens are omnivores. Given a the chance they eat grass (lots),
seeds, weeds, insects, worms, mice, frogs, bugs, grubs etc.

Grass? I think that is a bit misleading.

Not at all. Have you ever kept free range chickens ?

Yes, which is why I commented.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from martin contains these words:
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 16:38:26 +0100, Jaques d'Altrades
wrote:
The message
from martin contains these words:

A hundred yards would put parts of a 4 acre site out of range?

Depends on the shape of the plot and where the henhouse is.

In the centre of a square plot, no.

depending on whether it's 4 English Irish or Scottish acres

No. For one thing, Scottish and Irish acres are archaic and no longer
used, and though they are larger, (by about half as much again and just
a tad more than that, respectively) what I said still holds true. (Yes I
did the calculations)

http://www.answerbus.com/cgi-bin/ans...2Ban%2Bacre%3F

CBA

At one end or corner of a rectangular plot, lots of it.

a circular plot with the hen house in the middle would be optimum :-)

And how many of those do you get per square mile?

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

The message
from martin contains these words:


In France the chickens sold with yellow skins are supposed to be maize
fed.

Maybe. Either that or Marrans. Many of my bantams had yellow skins (and fat).

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm