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

[skunknchatter]

What kills me is that, while yes more cities are getting chicken friendly, no one is rooster friendly. So great, you can have a few chickens and get fresh eggs. 2 sources of protein that you have in a bind... but what happens when the hens stop laying?? Or the chickens get eaten? Can't make more without a rooster. I just don't think they are that noisy. Sure they crow now and then but really??? My neighbors dog is way more annoying.

 

[Yukonchick]

Ya really. My two roosters just started to crow but not every morning and they only do it about 4 or five times and quit. Theres alot more noisy things in a neighborhood to complain about than a poor little rooster, thats for sure. I live in the country but I totally agree with you.

 

[tls_ranch]

I found this old book about feeding chickens during food rationing and war time. Pretty basic info, but still interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Poult...=1346363821&sr=1-43&keywords=feeding+chickens

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Really if the jungle fowl could survive on whatever is in the environment, there is no reason why we couldn't grow our own feed - even if it wasn't 100% balanced.
Frankly, buying it is less work then growing it

I do know people that make their own feed though. They grow their own grains and mix their own feed with it. There is a lot more to a bag of layer feed then most of us realize.

THANK-YOU, Everyone!!

Wow, I am overwhelmed. Started this thread this morning and opened my mail tonite with lots to read from you all.

Am thinking you're right, Aoxa. They would survive in the wild, food-wise. (not sure how they'd do in our snowy (sometimes feet of it), windy, freeze-yer-hinder off Minnesota winters, though)

They wouldn't have the kind of feed we get in a bag that makes them punch out so many eggs in such a hurry. So I think we would find a way. We would fight to be creative and find a way. It's just that this is something I want to start thinking about now...and then, as Leslie D said, actually do some things now. Might help us later.

Gosh, sometimes I think what would we do without the internet and all the support here.........I guess if it came to that we wouldn't be sitting

anymore, but out there working and implementing! Think I'll start by buying some good heirloom seeds. Winter squash.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

I asked my dad this just this weekend, because when he was a kid, you just didn't buy chickens food. He said they dried corn and ground it up. Whenever there wasn't snow on the ground, you let them forage, and you didn't feed them at all in the summer--they fed themselves. I imagine they can find stuff any time there's not snow on the ground to supplement the corn. I'll bet his chickens weren't anywhere near as FAT as my spoiled girls!!!!

Seems like corn is the staple. We live on the edge of hundreds of acres of wild country....literally, it's part of our backyard. So many predators. The folks down the road had a flock of free-rangers and they are now down to one. Picked off one by one by predators while out in the woods foraging. Sigh. The other day an eagle swooped in over my open-topped run.

You have given me an idea. Think I'll let them graze in the garden when it's getting spent and see what they go after. That way they won't wander out too far. (our garden is fenced in)

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Hey, saw your bit on alfalfa--just wanted to let you know that you cut it before it reaches the blossom stage, every time it gets close, no matter how many cuttings you get a season. My dad has hundreds of acres of alfalfa and in a good year will get six cuttings. Cut it before it reaches full bloom and it will be more nutritious.

I just had a wierd/funky thought/question: Is there anything we could grow in place of our grass lawns that we could still use as lawns, mow like lawns, and yet be more nutritious for the birds when we give them the mulched cuttings? Dumb question?

 

[Missa Chickabee]

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

Well...that thought has actually crossed my mind, skunknchatter. My DH would not be laughing. I'd just fill a basement room floor with PDZ for the poop!! LOL

 

[mickey328]

Just came from the feed store...ended up with enough winter wheat, winter rye and alfalfa to last us for years on our little plot here...cost a whopping $2.40! LOL And we still have oats left from last year as well.

Once I take up the oats, I'm going to put in all three. The wheat and rye should sprout and then go dormant to resume growing in the spring. I'm just going to put them in patches. A couple years ago we took all the sod out of the front yard (much to the dismay of our neighbor who thinks a yard should be grass, just grass and only grass, with nary a weed in sight and all the blades at exactly the same height, LOL) We mulched it heavily with wood chips and have since then been planting various spots of it with a few trees and perennials. This spring I put in 3 patches of oats...each probably about 2 x 3 feet, and a patch of clover. It all blended rather nicely with the flowers and trees as well as the big strawberry patch in the center. So, come spring there'll be a few more patches of various things out there.

I'm going to utilize the border areas in the back too...put in a few sunflowers with beans to use the stalks as support, some more patches of said grains and some alfalfa as well. Thought we might broadcast some of that over the lawn so the chickens can pick at it themselves as we move their coop around. I'm also going to plant some chickweed...it's extremely nutritious and generally chickens love it and it's good for us to eat as well.

We're looking at putting in a cold frame on the south side of the house so we can grow some green leafy stuff all year long...for us and the birds as well. I'm thinking they'll enjoy some fresh chard along about mid-December or so.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I just had a wierd/funky thought/question: Is there anything we could grow in place of our grass lawns that we could still use as lawns, mow like lawns, and yet be more nutritious for the birds when we give them the mulched cuttings? Dumb question?

I think it is a great question! I should find a landscaper to ask ... I happen to know one! But what kind of lawn does well in your yard probably depends a lot on where you live, so my answer might not be your answer.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

I think it is a great question! I should find a landscaper to ask ... I happen to know one! But what kind of lawn does well in your yard probably depends a lot on where you live, so my answer might not be your answer.

You are so right about that, LDJ Northern MN's not Oregon! Our average first frost date in zone 2 here is September 16th up on this plateau where the Mississippi starts its journey.
Short growing season here.