How to become self-sufficient (kinda) with chickens.

[Gomanson]

I just read this old post and had some related thoughts...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=98672&p=1

I'm not a survivalist, nor do I live on a coumpound, nor do I think it will ever come to it, BUT: I like knowing that if I woke up one morening and found myself in a Mad Max post-apocalyptic every-man-for-himself world, I'd last a little longer than the other guy

For two years, I've been converting my whole garden to heirloom (non-hybrid) varieties and learning how to save the seeds. I have all the soil I need and I enrich it with home-made compost. I stopped buying Jiffy-Pots every year and now use little plastic pots with real soil to start my seeds in the spring. In short, now that I have the seed, the minimal hardware, and the free water and fertilizer, my garden is totally free and self-sufficient. In theory, I could live in a bubble and still have fresh produce for decades. I certainly don't grow enough to live on; even during the summer; but I sleep better knowing I have the basic skills, knowledge, and equipment, should I ever need to provide for my family.

I want to do the same thing with chickens. I have three laying hens (not quite laying yet) and I only spent around $200 on the coop, feeders, chicks, etc. Now that I'm all set up, I think my only ongoing cost is feed. So if I could produce my own feed, all I would need is a rooster and in theory I could have chickens and eggs well into nuclear winter

Is there a reasonably simple recipe for chicken feed? A related question is this: how can I sufficiantly suppliment my layers' diets wih calcium without buying oyster shells? Feeding them back their own ground shells has to be a net loss, so what did people do before commercially available calcium? For that matter, what do rural African farmers do for this? Or Amish farmers, or Mad Max?

Besides those questions ^ I'd like to know if anyone else has tried this or has any similar thoughts, tips, ideas relating to this.

 

[#1California Chick]

Great questions!!

I am signing up for future response.

Yes, I think that in the "old days" they threw the egg shells back into the run.

Cindy

 

[wombat]

Off the top of my head, I'd say that soy beans, collard greens, and mustard greens are high in calcium.

There are a number of veggies that are.

Some also have oxalic acid, though, so whether there is a net gain for calcium can depend on how it is digested.

I'm not an expert on nutrition ... just picked up a few things from my wife and her vegetarian/gluten free diet.

If you search on "calcium sources" and "vegetarian" you could probably find what you are looking for.

We grow a huge variety of greens, and the chickens get and eat anything insect-damaged and they love it.

I've been told that they have a short digestive tract though, and that overdoing greens can be an issue. We always feed ours their regular diet early, and then they get greens to pick through later in the day.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

This is going to be a good topic. I am real interested in the "old ways". Most people will tell you that you have to feed layer and this has to be done this way,..yada,yada,yada,...My family has always had chickens,..the chickens ate scraps and corn/leftover feed and they free ranged. Also they fed back the egg shells, nothing wasted. When I get my flock "situated" Im going to go back the way my grandparents done things.

 

[tulie13]

I've thought about this, too - definitely saving the egg shells to feed back (after thorough drying) is a good way to handle calcium. They need protein, carbs, veggies and calcium basically. If you start a sustainable insect or worm farm, you can handle the protein. I've got redworms going, and also some black soldier fly larvae (they sort of just got into a bin I was going to put worms in, so I let them take that one over

)

I'm hoping that between my worms and maybe crickets, my birds could always have enough protein. Carbs is where they would lack - green stuff is easy. So grains/corn is where my shortfall lies.

I'm not a fantastic gardener, so I'd probably have to stock up on some corn if I saw "the end" coming...

 

[mzrea]

 

[patandchickens]

Calcium:

Snail shells are a major source of calcium for wild birds, presumably also chickens, in many areas. If you are on soil that's naturally low in calcium (e.g. granitic) and/or don't have many snails around or the ones you have are all very very thin-and-flimsy-shelled species, this is less of a contribution.

If you're on limy ground, limestone gravel picked up as grit contributes calcium too.

Also the smaller softer bones of any vertebrates the chickens catch and eat, or of any cooked carcasses you may choose to feed back to them.

But if you are faithfully drying/crushing and feeding back their eggshells, there won't be too much of a deficit to make up, mainly just the calcium consumed in growing from chickhood to adulthood.

Homebrew diet:

It is not real difficult to come up with reasonable home-mixed chicken diets that are fairly balanced... what's difficult is GETTING THE INGREDIENTS (in the event of your apocalypse) because things like wheat and soy are not at all easy to grow/harvest/process at home, and you may well be wantin' them for your OWN feed in that sort of circumstance.

Amish farmers, because they have the equipment to grow lots of wheat and soy and suchlike, can do this a whole big lot easier than you can.

People in rural Africa, the chickens are mostly scavenging for their own meals. This works better in a year-round mild climate than it would, say, where I live (not much available for free-ranging chickens from December through March, even if they had show shovels...

)

Realistically, you'd probably give your chickens what you can find and spare, and try to store up enough extra to carry *a few* breeders over the winter, and otherwise they'd be on their own. Give you less eggs and meat and chicks than if they were optimally fed, but, sometimes what can you do.


Pat

 

[ecocheapomom]

I too find this subject very interesting and my husband and I spend a good deal of time discussing it. I am currently reading a book called "The Backyard Homestead" which is put out by Storey Publishing. It has a tremendous amount of information about producing all your food on very little land. They discuss growing grains on a lot as small 1/4 acre.
A quick thought on a sustainable flock. I took a class last spring about Chicken Husbandry and they did discuss that you would eventually need to bring in some additional stock to keep you genetics from geteting too inbred. They said in te old days people would swap a rooster every so often. So knowing another person with chickens would be of benefit.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
If you are on soil that is low in Calcium, you could add some pelletized/granular lime to your soil to improve it - this should last for years. That would also help increase the calcium in any greens that grow in the soil, which would give the chickens calcium when they eat them.

 

[CallyB57]

My X-husband says that if something really catastrophic happens causing an interruption in communications, food supplies, utilities, etc., that most people don't know how to do anything except go to the grocery store and plunk down cash for their food. He said people who were desperate would come and rob you, steal your chickens, and kill you if you didn't give them what they wanted. Can you just imagine people who have children to feed and no way to get them any food! He says if we don't all make it, nobody will make it.
I tend to think that all the the sane and sensible people will form co-ops and exchange goods and protect one another from others who are desperate enough to do such things.
No matter what, I would rather at least be prepared with some type of alternative heating and a good supply of clean water and some eggs. Anything could happen at any time...