HYPOTHETICAL DISCUSSION: What to feed your chickens when we can't buy chicken feed anymore

[Blessedchickens]

There is a recipe on BYC!! Going to plant clover and Winter Rye to try to at least cut costs with the price increases in feed coming.

Check this out!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/4477/everyone-post-your-best-homemade-chicken-feed-recipes

Yeah!!

 

[Blessedchickens]

Also google "homemade chicken feed" and watch what pops up.

 

[mickey328]

You're right Walking. I worded it badly...I meant to cut as soon as the first blooms start to show anywhere. My bad...thanks for pointing that out! CO is a huge alfalfa state since our soil is quite alkaline...can't do blueberries but the alfalfa grows like crazy! We can actually buy it here for a reasonable price but it's nice to know that it hasn't been sprayed and such.

Thanks also, Blessed! That's great info

 

[skunknchatter]

A friend and I are planting all Heirloom seeds next year so we can harvest and store seeds for our garden the following year. We've decided to find good seed and learn how to do this for reasons like this topic. I can't feed my chickens corn/feed from my garden if I can't get seeds to grow a garden.

My chickens are also pretty good scavengers. I live in a "farm" (well used to be more 10 years ago than it is today) area so I've got a lot of open space to let my chickens free range. In the fall and early spring I leave the run open all day for them. Now if things got bad enough that you couldn't buy chicken feed you may have to keep a pretty close eye on your chickens too.

I've already informed hubby that if something terrible was to happen the chickens are moving into the house so we can keep an eye on them and they don't end up missing

 

[20736]

My grandparents kept chickens during the Great Depression. My Pop Pop told me that they fed them road kill and dandelion greens. Seemed to work for them. And I have lots of dandelions!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

We put in a few fruit trees (plums and apples) a couple years back and I give the bird-pecked ones to the chickens...they love 'em!

I totally agree with this.

We put our chicken pasture fence around our little family orchard. The girls are doing a GREAT job with the apples, and I believe the trees help protect the flock from the hawks which circle the fields around our property constantly! I honestly haven't seen apples this nice in that orchard in ... ever, and we haven't lost a bird to a hawk yet. We also have some plums and some pears in there and a taller stand of evergreens the flock loves to scratch around under because there are lots of fun bugs under there and it is nice and cool. Our farm is a nursery where we grow fruit trees to sell to garden centers, etc., so I'm I'm going to plant more fruit trees and extend the orchard. I'm certainly more interested in the fruit now that I'm out there all the time playing with the birds. I'm doing applesauce next.

I also bought a pasture mix with extra clover to plant this spring, but we got too busy before it got too dry, and now I'll have to wait. I'm not sure I can plant it once it starts raining again in fall, but I can find out. Otherwise I'll plant it next spring. And I'm going to see about adding a bit more pasture land to the farm ... our farm manager really wants to do some cattle, and I am looking into doing rotational pasturing of cattle, sheep, poultry and maybe pigs as I believe this will be a good use of land which is actually very difficult to farm for nursery stock (too hilly, to dry). I am sure it will improve our soil quality, will help feed us all, and will really make happy birds who lay awesome eggs. I'm just concerned about what our dry summers will do to the pasture ... everything is pretty well dormant from dehydration right now. But I'm not sure I could get "permission" to plant permanent no-till pasture -- it would be such a switch in farming philosophy! Several generations of my family worked hard to clear this land, get formal education in "modern" farming practices, and invested in expensive equipment to be able to till/plow/rototill ad nauseam ...

One odd thing about farming that I don't think a lot of people understand is water. We are not allowed to irrigate without a permit, and new permits are nearly impossible to get. Actually, irrigation permits are impossible to get in my area. Sure, I could use something like 25,000 gallons per day to fill a HUGE swimming pool with water as often as I like, but if I try to use water for any agriculture the state would probably fine me. I'm allowed to irrigate something like 1/2 acre of personal lawn/garden area. They check for violations with satellite photographs. They're pretty serious about it. And regardless, I'd rather NOT irrigate if I can help it, so I've been investigating drought resistant perennial pasture mixes that have a good mix of grasses, grains, and broad-leaf seeds.

Luckily, we do have an irrigation permit from an irrigation pond which was installed on the property a long time ago. We can use that water on specific lots, and it usually allows us to go around the hilly part of the farm once each summer. I'm going to ask to have the pasture included in this pass, though we must give first consideration to the business crop.

And I can certainly plant winter veggies this year. We should ALL eat more kale. Next spring ... corn, etc. We'll have nice fertilizer.

 

[Den in Penn]

I've already informed hubby that if something terrible was to happen the chickens are moving into the house so we can keep an eye on them and they don't end up missing

If something were to happen, all livestock would suddenly be come very very precious.

 

[20736]

It depends on the scope of what happens really. We are talking about fuel costs I think, not Armageddon. Fuel costs, and ethanol, are driving the high cost of feed right now. Problem is, when feed goes up, it never goes back down where it was. So we will all face higher feed costs in the long run than we were paying in March or May. Supplemental feeding will carry us through the fuel crisis, or any short term supply crises. Grass clippings, forage increase, stuff like that.
A global, real life threatening crisis is a different matter. Have you brought any ammo lately? But, that is another thread I believe.

 

[Yukonchick]

That is interesting. What did the settlers feed their chickens way up here in the Yukon??? I wonder if they eat the same things as wild grouse. They're in the same family like partridge too. I know the grouse we hunt eat the seeds inside of wild rosehips. That may be one thing people can collect for their chickens at the end of summer. I might collect some and see if my chickens like them. Insects for sure. People could fashion a wasp catcher. Chickens love bees. I think you would definitely have to free range your birds so they could do some foraging for themselves if things ever got bad that we could not get feed.

 

[Yukonchick]

I think people are starting to wake up all over now and realizing they may have to learn to become more self sufficient. Even up here in the Yukon. The city of Whitehorse just passed the ok for people in town to allow them to raise a few backyard hens.. Its happening all over. Cities are growing greenery and bee keeping on top of skyscrapers. How cool is that.!