Health of free-range chickens

[Guest guest]

Granted this study is in Africa, but it is interesting. MOST

birds there are free range, and so you would think they'd

be healthy, but from this it sounds like they have a rather

high mortality rate. And parasite rate. Stuff to think about ...

we've never had a high mortality rate among chicks but

they are kept inside for the first few weeks and have

plenty of food.

Also they had a high rate of parasites, which is something

to think about if you like raw chicken liver ...

-- Heidi Jean

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/infpd/documents/econf_scope/add_paper1\

1.html

In Tanzania, Permin et al. (1999) examined 600 live chickens and found the

presence of a range of diseases. All animals were parasitised with one or more

(up to 14 species) species of endoparasites. In total 29 different species were

detected in the study. Furthermore, 65.7% of the animals were parasitised with

Cnemidocopt-es mutans, Dermanyss-us gallinae and/or Echidnopha-ga gallinacea.

[Guest guest]

>MOST

> birds there are free range, and so you would think they'd

> be healthy, but from this it sounds like they have a rather

> high mortality rate.

My first thought was, " One man's 'free range' is another man's 'That's not

healthy for a chicken!' "

We had a neighbor down the road who's pheasant's were " free range " - inside

an enclosure on bare ground without a single blade of grass, where

generations of birds had been raised for years.

But I went to the article and took a look:

" The majority of these animals are kept in free-range scavenging systems,

where the birds scavenge around the house during daytime. "

Unless the house is VERY large, that is not enough room to roam about and

not make the earth barren from the waste, let alone to support the birds in

bugs and greens. Speaking of which, greens weren't mentioned anywhere in

the diet of the birds.

" The mortality is believed to be caused by mismanagement, lack of

supplementary feeding, predators and diseases "

That pretty much sums it up. LOL

Rhea

[Guest guest]

>But I went to the article and took a look:

>

> " The majority of these animals are kept in free-range scavenging systems,

>where the birds scavenge around the house during daytime. "

>

>Unless the house is VERY large, that is not enough room to roam about and

>not make the earth barren from the waste, let alone to support the birds in

>bugs and greens. Speaking of which, greens weren't mentioned anywhere in

>the diet of the birds.

My understanding is that most birds are *loose* during they day,

and maybe penned in at night. So they have plenty of room. And

likely plenty of greens, depending on where in Africa and what time

of year.

> " The mortality is believed to be caused by mismanagement, lack of

>supplementary feeding, predators and diseases "

>

>That pretty much sums it up. LOL

I don't know what they mean by " mismanagement " but for my birds, they

have had LOTS of room to roam and they still need lots of extra food.

And the predators really do take a toll, once they figure out where the

chickens are! It's not just chickens ... I've known several people with

large ponds, and once the eagles and herons found the ponds,

bye bye fishies.

It's the " disease " part I wonder about ... there are lots of wild birds

so you'd expect there'd be plenty of parasites around. Which probably

doesn't hurt them much, as adults. But in another article it was saying

that they lose a lot of chickens in those parts of the world due to

Newcastle disease.

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

We could discuss this forever and not get anywhere since we don't *know*

what the housing situation looks like. What comes to my mind when I read

" scavenge around the house during daytime " is not a good situation. Our

birds scavenge around the house and way, way beyond the house. No one would

call it " scavenging around the house " as that's only a small part of where

all they go, for a small portion of the day.

True, these could be lush situations and they just don't supplement their

birds' diets, or it could be these are more like low income situations with

housing close together and lots of competition among all the flocks for

food. We don't know.

You see it as green. I note that the researchers do not mention any greens

in the birds' diets.

I don't see why you wonder about the disease part. Any time an animal is

undernourished disease has an edge it doesn't usually have.

I guess I just don't understand what you are thinking this study tells us.

I don't think it tells us anything applicable to anything outside of right

there where the research was done. Not unless we knew a whole heck of a lot

more.

Rhea

[Guest guest]

>I don't see why you wonder about the disease part. Any time an animal is

>undernourished disease has an edge it doesn't usually have.

>

>I guess I just don't understand what you are thinking this study tells us.

>I don't think it tells us anything applicable to anything outside of right

>there where the research was done. Not unless we knew a whole heck of a lot

>more.

>

>Rhea

Well, mainly about the parasites. I had one chick that seemed to have symptoms

of

a parasitical disease ... it has been inside under a brooding light, but it had

some

greens from the yard. I was reading up on chicken diseases, and it seems to be

the case that a lot of chickens get sick from wild bird diseases, whether or not

they are in good health. I went to the coop for some advice, and they guy said,

" wow, I've had more people with parasite problems these last few years. We NEVER

had parasite problems " . Now, most folks around here let the chickens wander.

It's a very green and lush area (always! except maybe for a month or two in

fall when it might get dry). But, the winters have been getting warmer, so

the worms survive in the soil better.

Now, in the tropics and in a lot of Africa, it is VERY warm and there are

a LOT of parasites and diseases we don't get here. But some of those

diseases ARE beginning to come here (like the mosquito borne diseases

that never were seen here before). You are right, we'd have to read

a whole lot more to get more info, and I've been asking around to

folks who have chickens here. Among the folks who leave them loose

all the time, they have a very high death rate. However, they often

replace the hens every year anyway, or they just let roosters loose

in an orchard to eat the bugs and don't worry much about if they

survive or not. A lot of the deaths are likely from predators.

Anyway, I just sent that article in case it was interesting to others.

Every area of the country is different. I have been feeling guilty

because 2 years now, we've lost 5 chickens out of 17 or so, but

now I find this isn't odd (at least around here) ... if chickens are loose,

often they have a high death rate. Again, depending where you live!

The first year, we had 5 die in a month apparently from something

they ate ... they got listless and stared spacily, next day they were

dead, not all on the same day, but spaced over 2 weeks.

I locked them up and no more died. But I don't know what they

were eating. The next year a coyote started hanging around ...again,

we locked them up for a bit til the coyote went away.

The chick, BTW, didn't turn out to have parasites. It seems to be ok

now.

I have no idea what the " answer " is ... I just post data! I like having the

chickens out wandering, they've been weeding our garden and clipping

the grass and they look nice wandering around, and they certainly

enjoy it. I suspect in this area we'll need a combination of being loose

and being locked up. Alse we need to deal with the " crow " issue ...

they've been hanging around and stealing the chicken food.

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

Folks - It is a standard assumption that chickens that have been bred

for meat or chickens that have been bred as layer and chickens that

have been bred for both laying and meat, need their 'free range' diet

subsidized by grain at the rate of at least 30percent of their daily

intake. Birds that do not have this supplementation available will

not prosper and will most likely not be healthy.

Chickens are not wild birds, not by a long shot. They have been being

bred and managed by human beings since before the Roman empire. Thats

a long time to be removed from nature. Sure, they need more 'real

food' in their diets, but, due to their genetics, they need feed from

the farmer, also.

-Allan

Who really loves his flock of 100 Barred Rock hens

[Guest guest]

100 hens? Wow!

I'm curious...if one wanted to get 12-18 doz eggs per WEEK from a flock, how big

should that flock be???

Marie

Re: Health of free-range chickens

Folks - It is a standard assumption that chickens that have been bred

for meat or chickens that have been bred as layer and chickens that

have been bred for both laying and meat, need their 'free range' diet

subsidized by grain at the rate of at least 30percent of their daily

intake. Birds that do not have this supplementation available will

not prosper and will most likely not be healthy.

Chickens are not wild birds, not by a long shot. They have been being

bred and managed by human beings since before the Roman empire. Thats

a long time to be removed from nature. Sure, they need more 'real

food' in their diets, but, due to their genetics, they need feed from

the farmer, also.

-Allan

Who really loves his flock of 100 Barred Rock hens

[Guest guest]

> Folks - It is a standard assumption that chickens that have been bred

> for meat or chickens that have been bred as layer and chickens that

> have been bred for both laying and meat, need their 'free range' diet

> subsidized by grain at the rate of at least 30percent of their daily

> intake.

When I had hens I had then loose in the yard to forage during the day.

I also fed them wheat, barley, and alfalfa seeds, which were sprouted before

being fed to them.

In the winter I used green hay for their bedding, they ate a great deal of the

hay.

They were given vegetable scraps and the some of the pulp from juicing too.

They seemed to do well on this diet.

Regards, Bruce