How to Feed Chickens for Free

NOTE:  This information is intended for keeping layer flocks (not meat chickens).

There are lots of folks giving out advice about how to feed chickens on the cheap.

This usually involves sprouting, growing, and manipulating feed in order to make food or expand food.

There is one big problem with most of these solutions.  The chicken owner is still buying, sprouting, growing or incorporating (think lard based chicken loaves) and working to feed the chickens.

I don’t want to grow grass, fodder, soak grains, or make suet loaves for my chickens.  I don’t have time.  I am busy doing 200 other things.

I have been feeding chickens for free since 2010.  Throughout the years we’ve been through dry spells, cold winters and had various challenges with our free flock.

Even with the trials, I still free-range my chickens.  I believe it’s the best way to keep them; it is the simplest method, provides the healthiest eggs, and makes the happiest chickens.

How to Feed Chickens for Free

The short answer is Free Range.

Crazy, I know.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how free-ranging chickens can not only feed them for free but keep them healthier.

ONE:  Free Range Chickens Can Feed Themselves

Chickens foraging in the woods

If a moderate flock of chickens has space and a fruitful environment, they can self-feed.  A chicken is built to self-feed.  Chickens lived in the wild for thousands of years before we started setting up drinkers and feeders for them.

They were made to eat bugs, insects, grass, grain, seeds, berries, slugs, and even bits of sand and rock from the earth (grit, yo).  This is the ideal diet for a chicken.  They do not need a bag of feed from a store.

TWO:  Free Range Chickens Are Less Work for the Chicken Keeper

Free-ranging chickens really will lower the to-do list on the farm.  There are no feeders to replenish, no water-containers to refill, and no bowls/ buckets to clean.  You won’t need to buy feed, unload it or store it.

The world is their buffet and the chicken chores greatly diminish.

Free Range Chickens Chores generally look like this:

1. Let them out in the Morning
2. Collect the eggs
3. Lock the coop in the evening

Chickens – done.

If there is not a water source that the chickens can easily access, it will need to be provided.

THREE:  Free Range Chickens will Eat a Balanced Diet

Free-range chickens are some of the healthiest chickens on the planet.  Their eggs are bursting with color and nutritionally dense.

A chicken needs a diet that consists of more than just calories, they need plants, protein, calcium, and even grit.  Chickens are omnivores which means they eat plants and meat.  The meat usually comes in the form of insects, but I’ve never seen a chicken turn down a freshly cleaned deer carcass.

Chickens who are allowed to forage don’t typically need to be given crushed shells or chicken grit to aid in digestion. They will naturally consume bits of crushed rock or sand while foraging.

When chickens are allowed to roam free, no one needs to ration, wonder or worry that they aren’t getting what they need.

FOUR:  Free Range Chickens Can Flee Predators

The biggest concern of free-ranging is that the chickens are more vulnerable to predators.

I know of many chickens who lost their lives in a chicken run or caged environment.  The truth is, if you have chickens, you are going to lose chickens.  It doesn’t matter if they are in a cage or roaming free.

In our experience, a livestock guard animal has been more effective at protecting chickens than fencing.  And with a guard dog, the chickens can live happy and free.

FIVE:  No Disgusting Chicken Run

When our best friends found out that we had purchased chickens they had one reaction, “Ew.  Chickens are gross.”  When they came out and saw our chickens free-ranging all over the homestead, they said, “This is cool, I’ve never seen chickens like this.”

Our friends had only seen chickens in a run that looked like death and smelled worse.

We’ve all see the nasty, chicken runs that are found on farms, especially after it rains.

It’s not our fault really.  Most of us who end up with a barren chicken run never intended for it to happen.  We found a lush green area where we considerately chose to put up a fence for our sweet flock of birds to scratch, peck, and frolic in.

Then the chickens killed it.

SIX:  Free Range Chickens are Healthier

Anytime a living creature can get exercise and eat its natural diet, it is going to be healthier.  Grass-fed cows are healthier.  Pastured pigs are healthier.  People eating fruit, vegetables, meat, and whole grains are healthier.

The same is true for chickens.  When they consume a diet of bugs, insects, plants, grains, and other foraged goodies, they will be healthier (therefore produce healthier eggs).

Chickens who are caged generally don’t get as much exercise as free-range chickens.  They don’t eat as healthy (bagged food will never compare to a natural diet).  And they are more susceptible to parasites and diseases.

Chickens enjoying the bowl of scraps from the kitchen

OK, I get it.  How do I start Free Ranging my Chickens?

How to Free Range Chickens

Now that you know the benefits to free-ranging, let’s talk logistics.  Free-ranging is by far the easiest way to keep chickens, but it does require a few things.

Free Range Chickens Need Space

If you live in a neighborhood or the farm next door is a few yards away, free-ranging may not be realistic.  Keep reading to learn how to keep healthier chickens if you must keep them contained.

If you have a few acres, your chickens will probably be happy to run around the farm and stay close.  Typically chickens will not roam more than 750 feet from their coop.  Put the coop in a central area and let them go from there.

When choosing the spot for the coop, chose a place that is somewhat exposed.  A wooded area may seem like a good idea because of the shade, but most predators are lurking in the woods.  Placing a coop in the woods or along a woodline is a good way to feed the local wildlife.

We have some experience with this.

After a fox ate almost all of our chickens, we moved the coop to an open area and got a livestock guardian dog.  It was the best decision we’ve made in our chicken keeping lives.

Free Range Chickens Need Protection

Our great pyrenees, Gus, protecting his chickens and sheep

If they are roaming free, there needs to be something looking out for their well-being and safety.  At our farm, this has always been a male dog.  I can not tell you how wonderful the right guard dog is.  Simply irreplaceable.  We currently have a Great Pyrenees named Gus who protects our chickens (and sheep).

A male dog will do a few things:

1. He will pee and poop around the farm keeping predators away.
2. He will bark.
3. He may actively run off unwanted visitors (depending on the livestock guardian).

Free Range Chickens need a House

Free Range chickens don’t need a fence, run or tractor, but they do need a safe coop to sleep in.  Believe it or not, they will all go ‘home to roost’ every evening when the sun sets.  It is adorable.

If your chickens have been living with a run attached to a coop, you can simply open the door to the run and let them out.  At night they will find their way back to the coop.  I recommend not completely removing your fenced chicken area if you have one.  There may come a time (like when you would like to spread grass seed) when you may want to lock your chickens up (for a short time).

If you are getting chickens for the first time and want to keep them free range you will need to coop train them.

To coop train free-range chickens:

Lock all the chickens in the coop with food and water.  Keep them in the coop for 4 days.  Give them food and water each day while they are locked up.  On the fourth day, open the chicken door (the one with the little ramp for them) and let them out.  In the evening when the sun sets, they will go back in the way they came out.  Chicken magic.

Free Range Chickens Need Opportunities for Meals

Here in Kentucky, the world is a lush, green jungle.  Really.  I live in a hot, humid, somewhat miserable climate.  We get an unbelievable amount of rain and have a long growing season.  Seattle only beats us by 4 rainy days on average per year.

It stays warm and wet here which makes for an impressive growing environment.  I swear sometimes I feel like I am living in a greenhouse.

This means that my chickens have an unlimited food source most of the year.

We do have around 8 weeks of frosty, frigid temps when the ground is either frozen or covered in snow.  This is when a bag of feed can be justified.  But even during winter we sparingly supplement with feed.

And our chickens stay round and plump.

Even without the jungle-like environment, a chicken on a farm can usually find a meal.  

If you have a plethora of livestock cohabitating with your chickens, the flock will most likely be able to thrive, even during winter.

Chickens foraging in the pig pen (yes they fit through the fence)

How do chickens find food?

If you are moving to free-ranging for the first time your chickens may need a little help.  If they are conditioned to eating from a feeder, they won’t know how to find food.

You will probably need to help a flock learn to self-feed.  When you let them out, toss a scoopful of feed all over the ground so they will begin to hunt, scratch and peck. Take a little feed to the wood line and sprinkle it there for them.  Take them to the rabbit hutches, the pig pen, and the old bales of hay.  Sprinkle some chicken feed where ever you want them to start foraging.  It shouldn’t take long for them to get the hang of finding food.

Places for chickens to find meals on a farm:

In the pig paddock.  Pigs are pretty messy.  They flip bowls.  They spill feed.  They root and expose bugs.  All of this mess is a feast for chickens.

In the cow fields.  Chickens and cows were meant to cohabitate.  Cow manure is actually very good for chickens.  They scratch and peck the piles and pick out bits of undigested grain.  As they do this they will ingest some of the manure, which is filled with minerals that are good for the chickens.

In addition to getting some great food, the chickens are also caring for the pastures when they scratch up the cow pies.  If left untouched, the cow manure will kill the grass and can cause parasite problems.  Chickens scratch them up and spread the manure out keeping pastures healthy.

Under the rabbit hutches.  If there are some rabbits on the homestead, be sure the chickens can gain access to the goodies falling beneath the hutches.  Wire floors will allow and spilled food and droppings to fall to the ground.

I don’t know if my rabbits are messy, or it’s the children feeding the rabbits, but there is usually as much rabbit food on the ground as there is in the feeders. My chickens have figured this out and frequent the rabbit hutches daily to happily scoop up any fallen alphafa pellets.

Chickens foraging under the rabbit hutches

In the livestock barn.  Whether you have sheep, goats, cows or another breed of livestock, there will usually be remnants left behind for the chickens to enjoy.  Our livestock barns usually contain a menagerie of minerals, scattered feed, spilled food, and even hay.

Chickens don’t eat hay much, but they LOVE to pick out all the seed heads.

Chickens foraging in the sheep barn

In the Compost. I am a huge believer in pairing chickens and compost.  I don’t have time, energy or desire to turn my compost pile.  Not to mention my compost pile is fairly large, so I don’t think I could turn it if I wanted to.

I love keeping my chickens on top of my compost.  I toss everything into the compost pile (manure, grass, old hay, kitchen scraps, garden scraps, weeds, etc) the chickens eat what they want, scratch it and deposit their manure.  There are always plenty of bugs living in a healthy compost pile so the chickens hardly run out of food to find hidden within.

Scraps.  Speaking of kitchen scraps.  If you aren’t already, start collecting all the kitchen scraps today.

We have a big bowl that sits beside our sink that we call ‘the chicken bowl.’  After all meals, we scrape all the chicken-worthy bits into it.  This bowl also catches moldy bread, canning scraps, onion tops, vegetable peels, cores, rinds and all produce past it’s prime.  I put everything into the bowl.  When I add it to the compost pile, the chickens eat what they want and leave the rest to break down and become soil.

Each day we deliver this bowl of delicacies to the chickens for them to inhale.

Chickens in Fences

I can’t let my chickens roam free.  I have neighbors!

If you can’t let your chickens be free, there are still some steps you can take to ensure they are getting their fill of wild forages in addition to the feed you provide.

ONE:  Buy good feed.  

I only supplement my chicken’s diets for a few weeks each year, but when I do, I buy organic.  It only costs a dollar or two more per bag and I feel good about feeding it to them.

TWO:  On the Move

Create an environment where your chickens can be moved.  This can be a moveable tractor or simply having more than one run for the chickens to forage in.

Instead of making one GIANT fenced in area for your birds, divide it into 2 pastures.

When they have depleted one run (and believe me, they will), let them into the other side.  This will give each pasture a time to rest, recover and be reseeded if needed.  Learn more about rotational grazing here.

THREE:  Put them on the compost

An easy way to give your chickens an unending feast is to put the farm compost in the fenced area with the chickens.  As long as the compost pile remains stocked (manure, old hay, garden scraps, weeds, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, etc) it will be an amazing source of nutrition for the chickens.

A healthy compost is always brimming with bugs and worms.  This is also a superfood for the chickens.

FOUR: Save the Scraps

Save every bit of waste that comes out of your kitchen and deliver it to your chickens each day.  They will look forward to this treat and it will go a long way toward providing food for them.

FUN FACT:  When you take the kitchen scraps to the chickens, say “Here chick, chick, chick!”  They will associate the call with the food & they will come running to you every time you call them (whether you have a bowl of food or not).

Five:  Visit your local Market

There is a roadside market a quarter of a mile from my house.  Each day they move the produce that can not be sold into 5-gallon buckets and set it behind the store – free for the taking.  I have used their buckets of food to feed pigs many times.

SIX:  Limit Free-Ranging

You may not be able to let your chickens roam free all day, every day, but you may be able to let them out occasionally.  Perhaps on days you will be home or just for short periods of time.  Even this will be a worthwhile activity.  The chickens will enjoy it and it will help them diversify their diets.

To keep chickens from roaming too far simply let them out later in the day.  They will all be returning to the coop at sunset.  Time it so they don’t have time to wander too far.

We have been free ranging chickens since 2010.  I have seen it work on our farm year after year.  Not only is it ideal for feeding chickens for free, I think the chickens have a better quality of life.

Happy Chicken Keeping!

XO,

Candi