Can’t afford rising feed prices

[Sissyhen]

I’ve seen online that some people go feed-free with whole grain berries, bugs, and other foraging.
Has anyone here tried to cut back amounts by a good deal or even entirely omitted chicken feed?
I was planning on letting them summer over my garden bed this year instead of gardening, but husband is looking at abandoning the chickens all together. If he does that I’ll have to do a garden or lose both outdoor pleasures. (Because if I don’t labor on the weeds, and the chickens don’t than it’ll be impossible to get back.)
Hoping y’all have some better ideas than I’m coming up with.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

It is hard to completely replace feed because modern day chickens need so much to produce in the amounts they have been bred for. Substitution, however, is common. Kitchin scraps are great, growing sprouts and BSL and mealworms are all good options.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Very, very few places can support birds with no feed provided. Best option is likely to cut down on flock size or try to sell eggs to supplement feed costs

 

[Sissyhen]

It is hard to completely replace feed because modern day chickens need so much to produce in the amounts they have been bred for. Substitution, however, is common. Kitchin scraps are great, growing sprouts and BSL and mealworms are all good options.

We do give them all the kitchen scraps, which is a pail-ful daily, and they free range half the day, but at about 20 hens they eat a large bag of feed every week. Are we overfeeding them? I wonder.

 

[Sissyhen]

Very, very few places can support birds with no feed provided. Best option is likely to cut down on flock size or try to sell eggs to supplement feed costs

We have a large family and need the eggs, though we’ve managed to sacrifice and sell a dozen here or there, at $2 a dozen (local value) it’s not offsetting anything. I’ve mentioned just reducing the flock and maybe getting some younger hens before summer (stretch the feed till the foraging is better). Hoping we can still figure out the feed cost until then

 

[Kanekoded]

Fermenting your feed will cut down on cost.

 

[Sissyhen]

Fermenting your feed will cut down on cost.

Can you ferment the pellets?

 

[Sally PB]

@Sissyhen, where are you located? You climate will have a lot to do with what and how much you can grow.

What are you feeding them, now? Are there less expensive brands available where you are?

You will have a difficult time meeting all of their nutritional needs without using commercial feed. And, it could be (much) more expensive. Some of the amino acids, like methionine and lysine, are critical, especially when birds are very young and developing.

Do a search here on BYC. There are several threads about this very topic. You might find some information that will help.

 

[DickMidnight]

a large bag (40-50lbs) a week seems like a LOT of food.

20 birds x 1/4lb of food per bird = 5lbs per day = 35lbs per week if all they ate was their pellets.

it should be significantly less since they’re free ranging and getting scraps.

my 11 birds (roughly half of your flock) go through about 50lbs a month.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

I have 18 chickens and I go through a 50lbs bag every 2 weeks. They get treats including fruit and veggies and cracked corn before bed (more just on the colder nights than every night). I have a large family too so I understand not selling so many. But $2 where you are is crazy cheap compared to around here. When I drive around I see them for sale at $4 a dozen and if I look at Craigslist, more for the other farm stuff, they are around $5/6 a dozen. And the local grocery store has there eggs setting close to $5. I happened to take this picture to show my husband.