Free ranging chickens
 

well its been a few months since we clipped wings

and some of our chickens just love to fly the fence and free-range.

Kinda hard for me to get a good picture though....

I'll keep trying. But here is a couple I just got

Attachment 89095

I call this one
Bug hunt

Attachment 89096

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Here are some of my girls!
Attachment 89102

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

They are beautiful!

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

I have a mean Rooster. He'd eat me if he had a chance. Mean Boy!

Oh, and I'm feeding about 50,000 sparrows these days too.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l..._3131529-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/_3131544.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/_3131526.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/_3131524.jpg

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Jack
That's a crazy comb that chicken has!

The rooster doesn't chase off the sparrows?

Ours chase off the crows.. its kinda funny.

But they let the squirrels eat all they want.

my wife got a pic of that....I'll post it later

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

So how do you guys like raising these little crap machines?
Pro's /con's
I'm getting ready to hatch some chicks from eggs. Looking to keep four hens.

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

I like em.
they are fun to watch.
and like you said, they are little crap machines and it makes great Fertilizer!
Lots of eggs too!

There's Not much of a downside that i can think of right now.

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

I love my chickens.... The older girls (almost 2 now) do good at staying in their large yard. The newer girls like to "free range" They learned how to go under the fence and gates. They found my garden and love to dig up my beds that my berries and grapes are in. One of my dogs will chase them out when I tell her "get those chickens out of my garden. " But there are alot of times when I don't see the sneaks in there. The eggs are wonderful. I eat them every day scrambled or fried in Coconut oil.

As for the sparrows, we only feed at night after they are locked up in the coop. I throw some out on the ground every once in a while, but I stay there until they eat it. For a while we had a sparrow hawk, which was nice. Hubby is building a new coop right now...

When I was little, my dad was teaching me to be tough. We had one of those mean roosters, and he would make me walk to school thru the back yard - where the rooster was. I got creative and made a bull whip out of the end of a fishing poll and an old horse rein. A couple of lashes of that thing and the rooster backed off! Also had a mean rooster a few years ago and while I was bent over collecting eggs he tried to spur me in the face. There was a two x two stud on the ground and I picked it up and the rooster went into a long deep sleep! Never to spur again!

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Nice fowl!

saw this, had to laugh.

I live (most of the time) in a very urban area, tonight on the way out and about we saw a chicken running down the street. Right down the middle.

I hollered at her to stop so I could catch it but she opted to preserve my dignity.

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Lol... Never chase a chicken.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/P2102507.jpg

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

The chicken from hell!!! :36_1_25:

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Although it's easier to chase a chicken than it is to snatch a sparrow. :wink:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/P2122533.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/P2042219.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...P2042182-1.jpg

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Great Pictures Jack!


what kind of Camera are you using?

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

is there anything you can do to attract the bugs ?

e.g. a compost pile, or scraps of plywood. once the bugs & worms make their homes in the compost or under the plywood, turn the pile & lift the plywood, and let the birds feast.

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

While my rooster apparently did come straight from hell, and is more than willing to attack my boot, he's actually afraid of bunny rabbits.
He's not afraid of people, dogs or cats... just bunnies. They scare the beejeezus right out of him.

I had to contain him in his own separate yard. Once in a while I set him loose on the hens, but have to put him up again or he plucks the poor girls backs naked.

He's a stupid rooster and aughta be growin petunias already, but I have a family member who just hasn't gotten there yet and he is kind of fun to mess with.... and yeah, I'm procrastinating.

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

Time for a roast chicken dinner, RealJack!

Re: Free ranging chickens
 

These pics came out of an Olympus e-520 and a 14mm wide angle kit lens. I had that lens right up in his face. He actually pecked the glass filter on the front of the lens. That's why his beak is out of focus. Too close.

It's a nice inexpensive little DSLR set-up.

The sparrow shots were taken with the same camera, but a different short telephoto lens.