Alternative Feeding

[Oregon Blues]

My ducks and geese get all the veggie scraps from in the house and all the veggie plants and extras from the veggie garden. They get most of the weeds pulled and the grass trimmed from the front lawn. Plus any bug they catch.

They also get a pound of whole wheat bread every night. I can buy a whole shopping cart of day old bread for $2. About 30 pounds of bread.

I grow chard for them and next year I will plant a lot of snow peas, because they love the plants and they have good protein.

When I trim the fruit trees, they get the branches and eat all the leafs. They get a lot of apples in the fall. This year, it looks like most of my melons aren't going to make it, so I will cut those in half and the birds will get them.

They will get the strawberry leafs when those are cut back for the winter. They get any bird pecked strawberries.

 

[extraordinaryfowl]

Do you get the bread from bakeries at grocery stores? We know someone who does that.

My geese love any broad-leaved green really, all well as most all vegetables. They are not so hard to feed.

 

[MMwallace02]

This is a really great thread for me!

I am struggling right now with what to feed my birds. The have to stay penned most of the time as we live right on a road and have dogs that would like to eat them for supper. I hate feeding them regular bagged feed so this thread has been really helpful!

I think I am going to grow some meal worms as I have a empty aquarium that would work perfect!

Thanks and I can't wait to see more posts on this!

Oh and someone mentioned growing their own bananas... that sounds awesome! I eat one every day and if I could grow my own they would be sooo much better for me I am sure!

 

[dragonlair]

I feed bakery left overs, meat scraps from the meat shop (that I get for the dogs), apples from a friends over grown orchard, hard boiled eggs, dried eggs shells, Comfrey leaves, whatever grass and weeds I can pick (I can't free range because of the fox and my own dogs), left over cat/dog/goat/horse food or house scraps, goat milk and products (yogurt, custard, soft cheese), just about anything that's not nailed down!

 

[SkyWarrior]

Chicken feed is stupid-expensive thanks to ethanol. I've been trying to feed leftovers from the fresh foods we eat. That is, melon seeds and rinds, peels from carrots and cucumbers, mushy cherries and peaches, stems from zucchini and eggplant, carrot, beet and kohlrabi tops, and whatever else I can find. Often, I find something odd in the freezer such as stuffing from Christmas or a meal I forgot I froze. I've been tossing them some wheat grass from the horses. I've also been feeding them a 20% layer pellet, which isn't cheap. Even the 16% pellets are expensive, so I just go with the 20%, unless I can buy some bags on sale.

Occasionally, I'll pick up a whole basket of expired bread from the outlets. Beyond that, I don't know what else I could do to feed them cheaper.

 

[lynn1961]

In our area now is the time to plant winter rye or wheat. We use the garden area and are planting a mix from tractor supply that is made for game. So the garden area gets planted now, then the 2nd garden area gets planted, keeping the chickens out of the areas until it gets up pretty good, will roatate the chickens in the gardens this winter so they will have something to forage. A lot of work up front, but will cut the cost of the feed bill down a lot during the winter months.

 

[All About Chicken]

This is a great thread! I tried very early on to let the bird’s free range but just tore my wife garden up… mainly the greens love them. I also have dogs that have killed a few as they run free, but they have not for some time now, I believe chickens see them as danger now so they stay clear. The chicken run is 750 sq ft plus the 100 sq ft coop for just 10 chicken on a regular basis but late summer grow to about 30 and then back to 10 for winter. So they do not run free early summer but do late summer and all winter, although do not like the snow so they stay in or under the coop when there’s a lot of snow. I have a large area for them to free range but like I said the 1st place they run to is the garden but once that is gone they eat in my Deer plots and my very over grown wooded areas in all 20 acres. They don’t roam much past that until the fields of corn is harvested all around me then they are in that I really do not like that as they are not organic fields but cannot keep them out. They also eat the field rodants funny watching them chase them. So I guess my input here is the Deer plots I plow and plant early spring so by time the chicks are out it is perfect they eat right with the Deer. I would move the coop out but the coyotes would be a problem the dog keeps them away from close proximity of the house so long as there is plenty of food or the dog would be in trouble to. I realy like this web site has some good info as I learn a thing or two and new knowlege is alway good

 

[extraordinaryfowl]

Turnips are an excellent crop for chickens in the winter. They are easy to grow, only requiring clear ground, then once you plant them they don't really not watered or weeded. They will get anywhere from a golf ball to a large whiffleball size. The greens can be fed too, and you can leave the turnips to sprout a few inches in winter before you feed them too the birds to give them some additional green.

Mangels and beets are also great, but they take a lot more weeding (and if you want to grow truly monster mangels better soil) then turnips.