chicken tornado

This video/pictures is/are sometimes what city dwellers, people who are surrounded by an endless forest of concrete structures every single day, pay for to experience or dream about after retiring. The lush greens of mountain sides, the unadultered fresh air, the cool river waters teeming with fish, and the animals and plants they grow with their own hands. I don't know about other people, but for me, it is always a good feeling the moment i hit the outskirts of a big city like Manila. When concrete skyscrapers slowly give way to grasslands and eventually surrender to mountains and seas. When cramped urban spaces open up to the rural plains and sweltering heat succumb to the cool wisps of countryside air. Growing up in Mindanao for all of my childhood has given me the need for a dose of rural setting every now and then and has implanted in me the goal that someday I will be a humble farmer feeding thousands of our countrymen.

Going back to the video, it is such a joy when you see the animals you have been taking care of are healthy and growing nicely. For free-range chickens, it is such a nice feeling to see them foraging around, dust bathing, and running after insects or from their brothers and sisters who also wants the food dangling from their beaks. Although it is a treat to see them with a good appetite for their food, this video also shows a flock management mistake that can ruin your chickens in the long run. Very hungry chickens scramble for food, and they literally are focused on getting to that food source no matter what. This scrambling for food can lead to mechanical problems like lameness, skin abrasions due to trampling that can further lead to infection, or at the worse, death due to trampling. These situations can be very stressful to your birds and can deteriorate their health. These can be caused by:
                    -underfeeding (giving less than their physiological needs)
                    -too long interval between feeding
Underfeeding can be due to low feed allocation compared to what they really need. Feed wastage can also contribute by lowering the actual feed consumption of the chickens. This scrambling behavior is very favorable for feed wastage as they fight for space, a lot of the feeds can fall out of the feeders and through the flooring where they cannot access it.

To prevent this situation, make sure that you feed them the right amount of feeds for their age. Keep in mind that you have to increase feed allocation as the bird grows. Give ample feeder space to prevent feed wastage and also use the appropriate feeder. You can do twice a day feeding or once a day but make sure feed  allocation per bird is appropriate to prevent competition for food. Remember that you should have a good feeding management for a successful free-range chicken production.