Found this well written piece. May be West Virginia but what the hoot, the same applies wherever.
Modern free range - "a vast warehouse filled
to capacity with chickens.......... Nonetheless, big agro can
legally call that sort of arrangement “free range,” in the hopes you
won’t know any better. (Way to institutionalize dishonesty, Big Agro!)"
and I like this analysis.........
chickens with access to pasture lay
healthier eggs.
Studies show they have 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated
fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids, 3 times more
vitamin E, and 7 times more beta carotene than the eggs of chickens
without access to pasture.
http://blog.mypetchicken.com/2012/06/01/free-range-or-confined-four-ways-to-manage-your-small-flock/
For people new to chicken keeping, deciding how they will manage their flock—free range or confined— can be pretty daunting. Part
of the problem is that there isn’t really one BEST way to keep a flock. A
lot will depend on your own situation.
For instance, my chickens free range in the true sense. That is, they
literally have no fences to keep them confined anywhere, so they are
out ranging all day long on our nearest acres. We can do this because
we’re lucky enough that we don’t have any close neighbors. There is no
one for our hens to bother, unfettered as they are. They won’t be
getting into a neighbor’s yard, won’t be pooping on a neighbor’s walk or
porch, won’t be scratching in a neighbor’s garden. At night they retire
to the coop, and I lock the door when they’ve gone to bed. In the
morning, it’s opened up again.
We can do this
true free ranging by virtue of our
location, and the amount of space we have… as well as the fact that I
work from home, so I’m almost always here to make sure everything is
okay. Our birds spend their days hunting, scratching, grazing and
foraging for bugs. When it gets cold, they huddle together or may choose
to stay in the coop. When it’s hot, they take shade under our old
locust tree with a view of our little holler.
You're facing the wrong way to enjoy the view, Bunny.
But that’s not the only way to manage your small flock. The second way to range your hens is
confined ranging.
Most people manage this way. If your yard or run is fenced, your birds
are enjoying confined range. With fences or enclosures, your flock
can’t wander willy-nilly into a neighbor’s property, or into the road
and traffic. Presuming the yard is large enough for your flock to have
access to green pasture, confined ranging often works out to be much the
same thing as fenceless ranging, so far as the birds are concerned. The
birds themselves don’t get to define their territory like they do
without fences, but they do have a large outdoor territory that they can
explore freely during the day. In some cases, chicken people will use
mobile “
tractor style”
coops that are moved to fresh pasture every day. Thus, the birds are
always on fresh range, and are also always safely confined. This is a
truly ingenious method of flock management, especially for urban and
suburban chicken keepers with limited space and/or close neighbors.
The third way to range your hens is
part time ranging.
This is a great way to operate in some situations. It may be necessary
to supervise ranging time, for instance if your neighborhood has many
stray dogs, or there is a danger of other predators. Or, if you’re not
home to supervise during the day, your family may decide to let the hens
out only in the evenings or on weekends when someone is around, in case
there is any trouble. Part time ranging is very popular, too.
Some urban and suburban keepers don’t range their birds at all, but instead have
full-time confinement.
This is probably less common–or at least we hear about it less often!
Full time confinement occurs when a flock has access to the outdoors,
but not to green pasture, not even on a part time basis. For people who
keep pet chickens confined, these birds are usually still quite
pampered. They probably get fruits and veggies as treats, maybe
meal worms,
sunflower seeds,
caviar or
crumbles. Plus, the confined space will be roomy presuming they observe
space recommendations.
The advantage of not ranging at all is that, if your coop and run are
secure, there is no danger of predators. There is always some danger of
predators with other methods. The disadvantage, though, is that there
will be a lot more cleaning involved, and birds will be more prone to
boredom and behavior issues like pecking, egg eating and the like.
Illnesses and infestations can also spread more quickly through the
confined flock. Plus, it may be a bit more expensive, since the birds
will have no ability to supplement their diet by foraging.
As you probably know, even full time confinement is WAY better than
factory farm “free ranging.”
This needs to be mentioned here, although no one in their right minds
would count it as one of the “Four Ways to Manage your Small Flock.”
Free ranging in factory farm terms is not free ranging at all, in any
objective sense. There is no free ranging about it. In fact, the “free
range” label has become just one of those doublespeak terms co-opted by
big agro in an effort to confuse or delude you about how your food is
produced. Their hope is that when you read that your eggs are produced
by free range hens, it’s natural for you to picture true free ranging,
confined ranging or even full time confinement with the type of
space-per-chicken provided to backyard flocks. Instead, what you really
should picture is this:
Our girls free range at the top of a beautiful West Virginia ridge; that's our coop in the background.
Factory Farm Free Range
“Free ranging” in factory farm terms is just a vast warehouse filled
to capacity with chickens. Somewhere there is likely a door to a small
concrete pad outside where they can “range” if they happen to be near
the door. It’s unlikely there is any grass or pasture available, and
they certainly don’t have treats of fruits and veggies, meal worms and
sunflower seeds like backyard chickens do. Nonetheless, big agro can
legally call that sort of arrangement “free range,” in the hopes you
won’t know any better. (Way to institutionalize dishonesty, Big Agro!)
For your small backyard flock, the bottom line is this: the more
greens and bugs they can supplement their diet with, the better… whether
they are truly free range chickens or whether you are bringing in
treats for a pampered flock that must be fully confined. You’ve heard
it from us before: chickens with access to pasture lay
healthier eggs.
Studies show they have 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated
fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids, 3 times more
vitamin E, and 7 times more beta carotene than the eggs of chickens
without access to pasture. They are also healthier in other ways; for
instance they are
much less likely to spread food-borne illnesses or contain other things harmful to our health.
So, how do you range your hens… true free ranging, confined ranging,
part time ranging or full time confinement? Did you start out imagining
you would care for your flock one way, and end up doing it another?
Please share your thoughts in the comments.
