Buckeye chickens

Everett's free range chickens are Buckeyes, so I felt him out about the breed's potential as foragers.  At first, Everett told me that the chickens were great foragers, but it turned out he meant they were quite predator resistant --- he hasn't lost a chicken to the elements yet, despite allowing them to roam free next door to the woods.

Upon further questioning, I discovered that Everett feeds his chickens about the same amount of laying feed every day that I feed mine, in addition to scraps from the kitchen and all the bugs they can catch.  He said that when he cut back their laying feed, egg production plummeted, which tells me the Buckeyes are getting the majority of their nutrition from the storebought grains.  I was disappointed to have to scratch another breed off my list of potential forest pasture scavengers.