Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Valley.

 

[Eveil]

So I know a lot of you use fishmeal for your chickens. With the price of it going up and the fact that it is getting harder to find right now I though you guys might be interested in what I just read. It was in Backyard Poultry issue October/November 2010. Just A little section on getting protein out of Alfalfa Tea. Its called "green" protein. Im not sure how much alfalfa would cost but it might be something to look into. This is how they say to use it.

Alfalfa Tea
"Alfalfa hay (or nettle) can be brewed into a nice,
rich "green protein" tea that can be mixed with your poultry's
drinking water. Place a Flake of alfalfa in a bag and seal shut, then
squish it around to break it up so it can be packed into a pot. Use a large
pot (5-gallon or larger) and stuff it full with the hay. fill the pot with water
to about 1 inch from the brim. Bring to a boil and let it gently simmer
for one hour. When done, pour into gallon jugs to mix into waterers.
The ratio I mix is 1 gallon of tea and 1 gallon of water, thus
diluted at 50 percent."

Early on in the mag there was an article by Gail Damerow. During the article they talked about how they only feed vegetable based ration but all so how chickens need animal protein. How they get around the animal protein is by letting them free range so they get there animal protein that way. In the winter up here you might want to feed bugs but I though it was worth looking into anyway for anyone that uses fishmeal right now because of the shortage and high prices.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Very interesting... but why not just let them eat the alfalfa rather than going to all the trouble of cooking it? This tea would probably be good for us too! lol

Has anyone looked into or found any other animal protein that can be substituted?

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Any animal protein is fine.
We have several gallon bags of Hoolies in the freezer that we will supp with this winter.
We also cook up ALL the trimmings from butchering and portion it out to them.

I would be very hesitant to use the tea to replace the animal protein in winter.
Bugs are great, but to grow enough of them to feed 40+ birds will likely not work us very well.

We plan to feed alfalfa as free choice this winter though.
Fishmeal is the only "processed" food we will feed them.

 

[Wolfwoman]

We give ours all the carcasses and bones from any meat we have, lots of the fat and such goes to the dogs, as does freezerburnt fish, I have 5 outside dogs that need the extra fat and such for winter, so I'm kinda inbetween as to who needs it most... Guess I'll just have to see what works best and play it by ear... tho the price on the fishmeal is much nicer...lol

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Just an e-mail back from Copper River Salmon. They said they do not currently produce fishmeal, but are looking into it for the near future as they produce 30-40k pounds of waste per DAY! Yowza. One day would keep is in fish guts for a decade. How do you turn the raw product into meal?

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Awsome!! We all need to contact them and ask for the product!

The carcasses are ground and then dried.....possibly cooked first, but I am not for sure on that.

 

[Ban seabhag]

That's a good idea. If they know they have a market it might encourage them to produce it. I really hate to see that kind of thing go to waste, when there is a use for it....

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Yeah, if I had unlimited access to fishmeal at a really good price, I would probably switch my dog over to a mixed diet based on that product. Right now I feed the Budget dog food, it's just fishmeal, barley and minerals/vitamins, etc.

I'd also grow out a LOT of meaties every year!

I just read the tag on the dog food: Barley, fish meal, kelp meal, 22% protein, 6% fat, 4% fiber. It's probably as good chicken food as it is dog food!!!

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
Yeah, if I had unlimited access to fishmeal at a really good price, I would probably switch my dog over to a mixed diet based on that product. Right now I feed the Budget dog food, it's just fishmeal, barley and minerals/vitamins, etc.

I'd also grow out a LOT of meaties every year!

I just read the tag on the dog food: Barley, fish meal, kelp meal, 22% protein, 6% fat, 4% fiber. It's probably as good chicken food as it is dog food!!!

That's what mine are on right now, but I have to supplement the outside dogs with extra fat in the winter so they don't lose weight on that food. It's NOT good for working dogs at all. However, the chickens like it, I had to give some once because I was out of chicken feed. EXPENSIVE chicken food tho!! lol