Can’t afford rising feed prices

[OneMoreChicken]

That's not how it works.
With free feed, chickens eat until their nutritional needs are satiated.
Some breeds are less efficient with utilizing feed. There's a table out there somewhere with the conversion ratio of some different breeds.

Indeed. My Brahma eats WAY more than my Easter Egger and Sky Egger.

 

[Chicken poppy]

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.

Yes. On an additon to what you said, though. OP, make sure no kitchen scraps are moldy or tainted, many sources say its okay but its definitely not.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Here's what I'm doing... Incorporate what works for you depending on how much land you have.

You mentioned that you have a garden that you aren't using. Have you considered using it to grow a feed plot for your chickens? I did this last year and will be doing it again. I grew oats, millet, Amaranth, buckwheat, fava beans, and clover. Of course I also grew a garden where the chickens were not allowed to go but I constantly gave them scraps from the garden.

As someone already suggested, fermenting food is also a GREAT way to make your feed stretch out longer. I ended up abandoning this option only because I have goats who are penned with my chickens and they were getting into the fermented feed. But it is a good option...

I have a rather large 20 ft x 20 ft compost pile in the corner of my pasture. We compost manure (horse, goat, chicken, duck, and rabbit), straw, hay, leaves, grass, sawdust, and garden scraps. This pile becomes a HAVEN for grubs and other bugs. I let my chickens out several times a week to free range. The compost pile is the first place they head (while scratching through horse apples on the way over there).

Of course, free ranging provides its own nutrients. They eat lots of bugs but also grass and weeds.

I still buy commercial feed (layer pellets, steamed rolled oats, scratch, and black oil sunflower seeds) but I find I don't need as much everyday and it lasts much longer.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@Sissyhen I have a thread, mostly inactive, titled My Acres of Weeds or words to that effect. I have put considerable effort into (and continue to put effort into) creating a stable, biodiverse polyculture to allow my birds to effectively free range. I have one of the most forgiving climates in the country (though very poor soil). The nutritional needs of a modern bird CAN NOT be guaranteed via free rangng, no matter how good the pasture. You have to assume a lot of bug.

During the height of the season, I've feed 50-60 birds on just 200-250# of feed a month. During the worst, about 400# per month. (admittedly, the goats get some)

Re: Fermenting. Its complicated. But anyone who tells you the savings if 50% is simply wrong. If fermenting was even remotely that efficient, every commercial operation would feed fermented food to reduce costs. Egg production is a very low margin business, if you could cut costs of feed by a third, EVERYONE would do it.

I can also show the chemistry. Fermenting doesn't create nutrients out of nothing. There is no such thing as a free lunch. At best, it makes SOME nutrients more bioavailable (and others less), depending on what is being fermented (corn, oats, soy, wheat, etc), by what critter (various lactobaccilus, numeorus yeast, etc) and the conditions under which its being fermented. Others are made less bioavailable. As I said, its complicated.

The majority of savings associated with fermenting (all, in many cases) are purely mechanical - the roughly 10% you get when feeding pellets, an oatmeal-like consistency wet mash (as I do), or with feeder designs which drastically reduce waste.

Sprouting, like fermenting, makes some things more bioavalable. Maybe its a benefit, maybe its not - depends on what you are feeding them.

1] Stop pretending DE is a Dewormer.
2] Worm your birds.
3] Replace old birds with younger, more productive layers.
4] Let us know what you are feeding them.
5] "Right Size" your flock - chicken math includes both addition AND subtraction
6] While you are busy rightsizing, take one of your birds apart, post photos. We'd be happy to let you know if it looks like you are overfeeding the birds, or feeding an imbalanced diet - the signs are often obvious.
7] If egg production is the goal, RIGHT BREED your flock. You can't compete with $2/doz eggs, but you certainly can't compete if their flock is full of young production reds and yours is full of old Brahma...

and finally, I'm just some anonymous voice on the internet. Feel free to ignore me. But i do have an LLC selling eggs in an economically depressed area of the country, I am VERY Busy on the feed forums - where I am accounted some sort of local wise person for unknown reason - and I do have a project building birds for my climate.

 

[Kanekoded]

More like 10-15%, I've never seen anyone prove the mythical 50%.

It doubles in size but your birds won't get the nutrition they need like that, it's a bad idea.

Okay so, I thought I'd do a quick and easy test. I filled a Mason jar to the 4oz mark with pellets (1/2 cup of feed) then, added water to the 8oz mark. I waited 10 minutes and the pellets rose to the 8oz mark - the feed doubled in size. Then, I added more water to the 12oz mark and waited another 10 minutes. The feed grew to 10 ounces.

So, in just a quick 20 minutes, I blew your 10-15% right out of the water.

As for nutritional value, research studies have been done to show the nutritional benefits. Here's a good and quick article on the topic:

https://riebelfarms.com/blogs/news/should-i-ferment-or-soak-my-chicken-feed

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Okay so, I thought I'd do a quick and easy test. I filled a Mason jar to the 4oz mark with pellets (1/2 cup of feed) then, added water to the 8oz mark. I waited 10 minutes and the pellets rose to the 8oz mark - the feed doubled in size. Then, I added more water to the 12oz mark and waited another 10 minutes. The feed grew to 10 ounces.

So, in just a quick 20 minutes, I blew your 10-15% right out of the water.

As for nutritional value, research studies have been done to show the nutritional benefits. Here's a good and quick article on the topic:

https://riebelfarms.com/blogs/news/should-i-ferment-or-soak-my-chicken-feed

Stop digging. Really, you are just embarassing yourself.

Linking to a website that doesn't bother linking to the studies for the outrageous claims its making isn't going to convince anyone here - particularly those who have read the actual studies, many of which i have PERSONALLY linked here on BYC.

Go ahead, search this forum for my name and "ferment". Then read what I've linked.

 

[3KillerBs]

Okay so, I thought I'd do a quick and easy test. I filled a Mason jar to the 4oz mark with pellets (1/2 cup of feed) then, added water to the 8oz mark. I waited 10 minutes and the pellets rose to the 8oz mark - the feed doubled in size. Then, I added more water to the 12oz mark and waited another 10 minutes. The feed grew to 10 ounces.

So, in just a quick 20 minutes, I blew your 10-15% right out of the water.

You didn't increase the amount of actual food at all.

It's still 4 ounces of pellets and a lot of WATER. You didn't add a single calorie of nutrition to it and the chicken will not derive any benefit from it that wouldn't have been in the dry feed.

 

[Kanekoded]

Stop digging. Really, you are just embarassing yourself.

Linking to a website that doesn't bother linking to the studies for the outrageous claims its making isn't going to convince anyone here - particularly those who have read the actual studies, many of which i have PERSONALLY linked here on BYC.

Go ahead, search this forum for my name and "ferment". Then read what I've linked.

Actually, I wasn't trying to do anything but be helpful to the OP. I read the research studies but decided to post the article since it's quick and easy to read - I've found that most people shy away from reading scientific literature because it's long. The article I included reiterates what's in the research studies.

I thought I was being kind and helpful. I even went out of my way to make sure what I was saying was correct. So please, get over your rude self.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and to demonstrate that I'm only mostly a complete ass, I'll help you out by linking a pro ferment study, relatively recent, which cherry picked its data set - one I'm familiar with, having linked it before.

Summary:

The birds fed fermented feed developed behavioral problems.
The birds fed fermented feed developed larger intenstinal systems and greater body mass, though their useful meat/total body mass ratio dropped (maybe not a concern for layers, definitely a concern if you eat your flock (i.e. dual purpose or meaties)
The birds fed fermented feed had "wetter" droppings, adding to moisture content in their coops.
The birds fed fermented feed started laying LATER (that's more unproductive weeks of feed input with no output).
The birds fed fermented feed laid fewer eggs over the study period (about 7%)
On a dry matter basis, the birds at less feed when fermented, averaging 110g/d s 125g/d, which is about 12% - comfortably w/i the 10-15% range suggested by another, much better informed, poster above. One I happen to know is familiar with this study.
Birds fed fermented feed selected for different gut bacteria than those fed dry feed - whether that's better or not depends on the bacteria in your environment - and can as easily be achived by acidifying your water (i.e. ACV) or from the natural pH of your water source, with equal uncertainties as to its superiority.
Use of fermented feed resulted in a 2% increase in egg weight for the last three weeks of the study, but lower egg weight for every other week.
and birds on fermented feed, at the very end of the study, produced heavier, harder shells (but not every other week of the study) for reasons the study doesn't pretend to offer.

Yeah. Fermenting is complicated.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Actually, I wasn't trying to do anything but be helpful to the OP. I read the research studies but decided to post the article since it's quick and easy to read - I've found that most people shy away from reading scientific literature because it's long. The article I included reiterates what's in the research studies.

I thought I was being kind and helpful. I even went out of my way to make sure what I was saying was correct. So please, get over your rude self.

I don't question your intent.

Your suggestion, however, is to offer a glass of water to a starving hen.

That you don't understand why that doesn't work, and mistake a mere doubling in volume for a substantial change in nutritional value transforms good intent into harmful advice.

OP's chickens don't care WHAT you intended. The best of intent will not meet their nutritional needs. Several of us, more educated on this subject, have already offered temporary feeding regimens based on the non chicken feed ingredients OP has on hand to get them thru this period.