Freedom Ranger Chickens and Compost Piles

Hi everyone
I am trying to reduce my feed store intakes this year
I have setup a mobile chicken coop for ~47 freedom rangers. I have them setup in an paddock with a 100' poultry net. I have two compost piles that I want them to work.

The chickens are still small enough to escape the fence, so I am going to put plastic mesh at the bottom to stop that.
But besides that, they don't seem to terrible interested in tearing apart the compost pile.
I sprinkle on a bit of crumble and they will work the pile for a bit, but not enough

The pile is made of bedding from the chicken coop and duck coops. Poop mixed with hay. Kinda clumpy. Was hoping the chickens would tear it apart no problem

How can I encourage them to work these piles more?

Thanks!

Unless it's crawling with insects,  there's nothing in those piles for a chicken.
You could soak some grains or beans and dig them into the pile.
When they sprout you should get some interest.
My chickens compost food waste, with healthy doses of autumn leaves added.
They get tree hay and weeds as well, but I don't count on them eating that I just count on them shedding it.
The coop bedding goes in with the rest, but it's not something that feeds them directly.

William Bronson wrote:Unless it's crawling with insects,  there's nothing in those piles for a chicken.
You could soak some grains or beans and dig them into the pile.
When they sprout you should get some interest.
My chickens compost food waste, with healthy doses of autumn leaves added.
They get tree hay and weeds as well, but I don't count on them eating that I just count on them shedding it.
The coop bedding goes in with the rest, but it's not something that feeds them directly.

True. I understand that. When I turned rhevpioes yesterday for these lazy birds, there were all kinds of creepy crawlies in there. Im sure it will ramp up. But they just still don't seem interested in finding them

Its well documented on YouTube that people raise birds off compost pikes. Billy bond of permapastures, and Justin Rhodes are two people that come to mind. It works for them, not sure why it isn't working for me.

Hi Robert,
How new are the piles? It sounds like they are old enough to have life in them, which is good. A fresh pile will take some time to attract the bugs and microbes that chickens like to eat.

How long have the chickens been exposed to the piles? And is this their first time? Chickens have a lot of learned behavior. They are also tentative to try new things. Once they try them and are exposed to them enough, they will get more used to them.

How much food do you give them? A chicken can be quite lazy. If they have an easy source of food, they will not often work hard to get different food. I might suggest feeding them less regular food... or perhaps feeding them at a different time. Maybe give them the morning to be hungry and go scratch around, and then feed them in the afternoon?

Lastly, I have not raised Freedom Rangers before, but I do understand they are a meat bird. Meat birds do not seem to have the same level of energy and drive that many dual purpose or egg laying breeds have. That is my own opinion with very little to back it up scientifically :)

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Robert,
How new are the piles? It sounds like they are old enough to have life in them, which is good. A fresh pile will take some time to attract the bugs and microbes that chickens like to eat.

How long have the chickens been exposed to the piles? And is this their first time? Chickens have a lot of learned behavior. They are also tentative to try new things. Once they try them and are exposed to them enough, they will get more used to them.

How much food do you give them? A chicken can be quite lazy. If they have an easy source of food, they will not often work hard to get different food. I might suggest feeding them less regular food... or perhaps feeding them at a different time. Maybe give them the morning to be hungry and go scratch around, and then feed them in the afternoon?

Lastly, I have not raised Freedom Rangers before, but I do understand they are a meat bird. Meat birds do not seem to have the same level of energy and drive that many dual purpose or egg laying breeds have. That is my own opinion with very little to back it up scientifically :)

They are somewhat new. I set them up probably a week and a half ago. They may need a little more water too.
When I turned them, it was warm and wet inside, so there is activitiy
Some of my medium was old hay that was sitting around, LOADED with worms

As for feed, I will feed between 4 and 7 lbs of crumble a day for ~45 birds.

I already have a few action items that I need to take
1. Clip their wings
2. Put plastic mesh at the bottom of my electronet to stop them from getting out, and holding them in that area

Compared to CX, the freedom rangers are amazing. But I'm seeing the downside in their behaviors VS my laying flock. I have to say that my white leghorns really have things figured out.
Worst case, if this system doesn't work with the freedom rangers, I will try another breed like australorp, one of the rock breeds, etc.

I'll tell you what though
I was given a bunch of freedom rangers for free in 2021. These were our first chickens and gave a good medium to play with.
I made tons of mistakes and learned alot
I slaughtered all of them except for two
I kept one rooster because he was beautiful and I kept a hen. The hen actually went broody on 11 eggs, hatched them out, raised them for me. I fed them for a month or two after then processed them. They were smaller than a Cx, or a freedom ranger, but damn, they had a ton of meat considering their size. And they were excellent tempered, great foragers, and overall a joy to have. It was actually sad killing them. That hen still is around and she continues to be my best egg layer. Go figure

Hi Robert,
98% of my experience is with egg layers or dual purpose, so I am flying a little blind when it comes to meat birds. Generally they say about 1/4lb per bird, so that would be about 11lb per day for your flock without extra food sources. So 4-7 sounds like a good amount to make them hungry and go for other food.

Do you notice them scratching around other places?

Perhaps spreading their food on top of the compost pile would help?

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Robert,
98% of my experience is with egg layers or dual purpose, so I am flying a little blind when it comes to meat birds. Generally they say about 1/4lb per bird, so that would be about 11lb per day for your flock without extra food sources. So 4-7 sounds like a good amount to make them hungry and go for other food.

Do you notice them scratching around other places?

Perhaps spreading their food on top of the compost pile would help?

Since they can get out of the electronet, they end up going and looking around. Which is great. They aren't bad foragers that's for sure, but not as good as my egg layers. Once I add the plastic mesh and clip their wings, they will be forced to stay in there.

I did sprinkle food on top of the piles, and that does help but not enough. I really need them to get aggressively hungry and tear the piles apart to break up the clumps. Maybe it's just a matter of confining them to that area and making them look at all the compost pile as the only option available

I'm most familier with the Edible Acres setup, which is the one Billy references.
My own experience is with a tiny backyard layer flock.
They are big fat hens, but they still scratch and even dig.


Confining them , and tightening rations might help.
Are they hitting their expected weight gains?