Free Range Chickens

[DuckBoy]

So I was just caravanning about with some alpaca, and the pregnant alpacas gave birth and added to my caravan. 

Does this mean I can send all of my chickens to the caravan and reap the absurd rewards of exponential chicken growth without having them decimate my map?  Will chickens lay eggs?  Will cows generate milk? 

There must be some way to exploit not having to feed animals to make enormous herds...

[Canute]

Ask yourself, does you ever got milk/wool from your alpaca at the caravans ? :-)
Does any of your alpaca's got pregnant at the caravans ?

It is maybe a alternativ way for new animals to get to mature age, so you can slaughter them.
But for milk/wool animal you need to let them enter to map each x days, so they can get ride of that.

Don't forget you have to put at last 1 colonist into the caravan, and the caravan can be ambushed all the time. The visible with all these animals is raising with alot of animals
It is like a herd with a sheppard, doable but not with chickens ! :-)

[Shurp]

So herding is now a thing in Rimworld?  It sounds like this could almost be intentional.  Have a caravan full of calves roam the map until they grow up, then bring them home in a cattle drive.

[antibodee]

I setup the 'wild' parts of my colony in sections and move the grazing animals from section to section.  Does wonders for fire control.

[Canute]

So herding is now a thing in Rimworld?  It sounds like this could almost be intentional.  Have a caravan full of calves roam the map until they grow up, then bring them home in a cattle drive.

Since animal can graze on caravan's yes.
Animal's don't need extra food. And they are out of danager from Raid's
The sheppard rarely need food from foraging.
Just the danger from random caravan event's.

[Gadfly]

It's great for wool or meat, not the best for milk and eggs. I keep around 20 wool animals for each herder and they move from item stash to mineral deposit. During the winter we move down south to trade.

I make a small village on those deposits and process the wool there, it's easy getting inspirations there.

Keep a doctor close with herbal medicine and your animals can now be saved from the plague. Keep your herders on penoxyline. Drop podsfor if things get dire.

Small groups make the raids not to hard and sickness does only effect one group at a time.