Alfalfa cubes

[CannedMonster]

I’d like to try this in winter.
We are in a high desert climate in southern Idaho.
The snow generally isn’t terribly deep (except the 2016/17 winter )
but my birds didn’t like walking around on it much.
They seem so bored in winter.
I’m always game for ideas that give them something to do.

 

[perchie.girl]

I’d like to try this in winter.
We are in a high desert climate in southern Idaho.
The snow generally isn’t terribly deep (except the 2016/17 winter )
but my birds didn’t like walking around on it much.
They seem so bored in winter.
I’m always game for ideas that give them something to do.

you can also run a string through some cabbage or a head of lettuce.... Kida fun watching them play thether ball....

 

[Trux]

So I have been watching this thread for awhile now. We live in SoCal where water costs an arm and a leg and our yard is grass and weed free due to no rain. Been feeding the girls good quality layer feed and the juveniles grower feed from local mill. This spring when the weather started getting hotter egg production went down, I lost one hen to heat, but they never really recovered egg wise. So back in Sept I went and got some alfalfa cubes. I have 16 layers 10 of them are 1 1/2 yr olds and 6 pullets 7months. I soak 4 cubes in hot water every morning along with their ration of layer feed and some scratch. Once the cubes break down I add the feed and scratch and mix it up. After about a month of feeding this I saw an increase in egg production along with better overall look of my girls. Adding the alfalfa to their morning feed seems to have made a difference
I feed them wet feed morning and evening along with a feeder of dry crumbles for them to peck at during the day

 

[RoosterML]

I am not sure about the whole alfalfa cube deal but seeing how I have rabbits I already have rabbit pellet food. 1st listed ingredient is Degy Alfalfa Meal followed by wheat middlings also by Poulin Grain, I threw them in a hand full last week. Now a days the green grass they been eating is pretty much all gone. It's the same pellet size as there existing feed so I did not soak anything. I would guess any rabbit feed would work.

 

[Trux]

I am not sure about the whole alfalfa cube deal but seeing how I have rabbits I already have rabbit pellet food. 1st listed ingredient is Degy Alfalfa Meal followed by wheat middlings also by Poulin Grain, I threw them in a hand full last week. Now a days the green grass they been eating is pretty much all gone. It's the same pellet size as there existing feed so I did not soak anything. I would guess any rabbit feed would work.

I went for straight alfalfa, no other ingredients

 

[aart]

I would guess any rabbit feed would work.

I know nothing about rabbit feed pellets,
but as with chicken feed it's good to read all the fine print ingredients.
A bit now and then probably isn't an issue.

 

[Seaecho]

I have two horses, once of which is old (34) and he gets #1 alfalfa that has been wet down. He gets nutrition from the leaves, as well as his substantial senior feed. (Man, it's expensive to feed him!) and I put half a flake of his alfalfa in with my four hens once or twice a week. They love scratching, and sifting through it for the leaves. It gives them something to do, as someone else said, and they seem to greatly enjoy it. I'd recommend it over soaked pellets, myself. Keeps them more busy than pellets would.

 

[Chickassan]

Maybe soak a few pellets and see if they expand a crazy amount before you feed them to the birds. It will give you an idea of how much alfalfa you're putting in them at a time.

I am not sure about the whole alfalfa cube deal but seeing how I have rabbits I already have rabbit pellet food. 1st listed ingredient is Degy Alfalfa Meal followed by wheat middlings also by Poulin Grain, I threw them in a hand full last week. Now a days the green grass they been eating is pretty much all gone. It's the same pellet size as there existing feed so I did not soak anything. I would guess any rabbit feed would work.

 

[Trux]

Well like I said before, we live in SoCal, no grass no weeds...nothing but dirt. They get to roam the yard several hours a day, and basically all they do is dig up the water wells around the orange trees, which I have to rebuild everyday. So the alfalfa cubes seem to be a good alternative, and a good source of folic acid which they do need. And another thing that I noticed since I been feeding it to them is the yolks are darker

 

[Trux]

I know nothing about rabbit feed pellets,
but as with chicken feed it's good to read all the fine print ingredients.
A bit now and then probably isn't an issue.

nothing but straight alfalfa compressed into small cubes, hard as a rock till you put them in warm water