Young hens are called "pullets."
Organic free-range chickens are happy chickens. Farmed chickens are all to often kept in crowded quarters, rarely see daylight and are fed grain treated with antibiotics. Purchase your chicks from local farmers who also raise free-range chickens to insure your flock is healthy from the beginning. You can have the benefits of free-range chicken and eggs by raising them yourself.
Instructions
1. Feed a diet of whole organic grains, or premixed organic feed. It is important that the feed is truly organic and does not have any added antibiotics. You can purchase ready-made organic feed or look for recipes online to mix your own organic feed.
2. Some rare breeds of chickens are in need of conservation.
Allow your chickens free range. The chickens will rely less on grains if they are encouraged to forage for their own food on grass and are allowed to roam a wide area on a daily basis. In the warm months, free-range chickens require less feed reducing the expense of raising them and at the same time ensuring healthier chicken. Free-range chicken should spend a minimum of two hours outside each day, but more time outdoors is greatly encouraged. Two square feet of outdoor ground per chicken is a minimum amount of space that chickens must be provided to be called "free range." But, that is a very small amount of space and ideally a chicken should be given much more. Ten square feet per chicken is a much more reasonable amount of space. Chickens that are not crowded peck at each other less and are less prone to mites and disease. Some people let their chickens roam freely, but they are at the mercy of predators and they must be trained to return to the coop at night. Free range chickens may be allowed to roam a fenced-in area if they are given adequate space. Some people build pens that can be easily moved to allow the chickens to range new grass periodically.
3. Supplement your chicken's feed with stale bread and table scraps. Add crushed garlic or unfiltered apple cider vinegar in their water periodically. It is a natural way to prevent infection and disease. Do not give this to them in a galvanized water container. The chickens will also need grit, sand or small gravel.
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