Letting chickens graze in the woods

Our adult chickens told me that they were sick of their over-grazed pastures and jealous of the Light Sussex who have been happily foraging throughout our garden and orchard for weeks.  "But you'll scratch up the mulch!" I complained.  "Those Sussex are too little to do much damage yet, but I've seen how destructive a full-grown hen can be."

You may remember that I let our first batch of Australorps run in the woods as youngsters, which worked fine for a while.  However, when the flock neared three months old, the Golden Comet hybrid cockerel led them around the barn and up into our garden, where they quickly got into trouble.

"But you ate him, remember?" the remaining Australorps coaxed.  "Come on.  Give us one chance."

The truth is that Mark and I had started to doubt the foraging abilities of our current flock due to their tendency to laze around the pasture.  So I decided a test was in order --- I opened the gate and let them free.  Seven hens and a cockerel spread out through the young woods, scratching industriously and filling their crops until they nearly burst with good food.  The storebought pellets I'd scattered for their breakfast were ignored until after lunch, and without a friendly breed to tempt them near humans, our hens have so far stayed away from our cultivated plants.

I'm working on a new hypothesis about pasture quality --- if your chickens are lounging around for more than about two hours per day, you're either overfeeding, or the pasture is subpar.  Perhaps chicken activity level is the best way to gauge when a pasture needs to be rested?