Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread - Page 50

You could always sprout your oats.  Unless I'm mistaken, they are more nutritious this way and the chickens really go for them.  I haven't done it myself but I have many irons in the fire, and that is one of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdeoliveira74 
 

I got my duckweed from the local pond. Just grabbed a handful and it's like tripled since then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonsterClucker 

I have a pond I'm front of my house growing duckweed. How do you collect te stuff?

basket, stick, long handled garden cultivator?  Anything that will hold it.

I feed store bought food but also

lots of barley and whole oats along with tons of grass and wild raspberries on a daily basis the summers are short here so gotta get them fed with as much wild stuff as possible..

 also planted a plot of oats and barley to hopiing they will eat the plants once I let them in that area.

We stored our pumpkins, squash, etc. in the cool basement on a shelf, and they kept for a good 4 months.  As long as there is air circulation around them, i.e., not stacked on top of each other, they should keep in a cool, dark place for most of the winter.

Just throw your whole oats in the garden, or even your duck and chicken bedding if you feed them oats, they will grow.  Also covering the area where you have thrown the oats with used duck bedding helps.  Grow like crazy, even sunflowers from them eating the whole seed, they never digest it all, and it seems to "season" in their bellies, so you don't have to sprout anything first.   A little miracle of nature.  Wild birds have this trick and have populated the earth with all kinds of different plants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ducklucky 

We stored our pumpkins, squash, etc. in the cool basement on a shelf, and they kept for a good 4 months.  As long as there is air circulation around them, i.e., not stacked on top of each other, they should keep in a cool, dark place for most of the winter.

Great thanks !!

Buy the biggest bags of frozen peas or corn.  Thaw and hand feed as a treat and tamer.  You can get cases at the big box stores, get the cheapest.  They love this!  Personally, in winter especially, we mix 1/4 whole oats, 1/4 cracked corn (corn produces body heat for the birds), and 1/2 layer pellets.  They get treated with leftover pasta and rice, and the frozen/thawed veges, they LOVE spaghetti.  Just think what you want your eggs to taste like.  You want to stay away from strong things like garlic and onions and broccoli.  They do love the pasta, but only do it as a treat, they will fill up and ignore their good food.  And yes, they will eat it with the tomato sauce!  They're pretty smart, aren't they?