How to get free range chickens to forage

In a previous post, I hypothesized that you can tell the quality of the forage by how much time a chicken spends lounging around vs. actively foraging.  It turns out that scientists have spent considerable time collecting data on the activities of chickens in commercial day range settings, and have discovered that broilers often prefer to sit around inside.  Even at peak foraging times and temperatures, only 13% to 25% of broilers will set foot outside the door.  (I guess I need to give our ladies a break --- even when they're not actively working, they do tend to hang around outside.)

Here are some highlights of the studies:

• Morning and/or evening seemed to be peak foraging times.  Students at Truman State University found that the most chickens were actively foraging from 7 am to 10:59 am while this UK study (the data of which is shown here) found the most chickens outside right after the popholes opened in the morning and right before they closed at night.
• Chickens will range further from their house if trees are present.  Marian Dawkin planted young trees in bare chicken pastures and studied the flocks' behavior for the next three years.  In year one, there was no difference between the pastures with and without trees (presumably because the trees were so small), but two years later, more chickens were found in the tree-filled pastures than in those that had been left bare.
  

The take-home message is --- make sure your chickens have access to pasture early in the morning and late in the evening and plant some trees!