Cheaper Organic Feed? - Lettuce, Tomatoes, Mealworms, Etc.

[ChickenCanoe]

Here's my fodder from last winter.

 

[glib]

I think there are misconceptions here.

1) no feed will be so nutritious as to replace fresh foods, even fermented. Vitamin C and various carotenes, for example, will always be more abundant in fresh vegetables. And such fresh vegetables will not alter any methionine ratio, because they are low in proteins and calories generally. No need to keep methionine in an exact bracket either. they are not laying very much if at all, and methionine is only indicated for young, rapidly growing animals.

2) in winter chickens need more fat. I make lard with a whole pig and they get the bulk of the gristle, (frozen in small packets in the freezer). I don't think a balanced feed is balanced for seasonal needs

3) It was -19F last night, yet under hoop houses I have about 50 collards (about 30 have been eaten so far). collards can be picked frozen, and once thawed they will be good to eat, for humans or chickens. Very nutritious. New England is warmer than here, and hoop houses are sized to cover exactly one bed. Once the snow thaws, I have parsnips and carrots in the ground to pick, and kale will give a second crop.

4) sprouts (fodder) are far more nutritious and far cheaper than lettuce. A 50lb bag of BOSS at the pet store is $19.99, you don't have to travel to a far away ag supply store if you are in the suburbs. Do I give BOSS sprouts to the chickens? Rarely, these are high quality food for us, and I always have two trays going for the family (I also grow other sprouts). The chickens get apple peels, vegetables for stock after boiling, imperfect collard leaves, pulp from the juicer, carrot tops, imperfect apples, too small beets, and also crushed apples that were used for ACV and were then used to ferment grains. They do get sprouted corn which is very good for them.

5) concur with those who say that there is a lot of free produce at the stores. I even use some of it for stock.

6) if you know people in your neighborhood, you can always get pumpkins on Nov. 1. Those go a long way.

Glad to see that I cost less, in maintenance, than a chicken, but there are ways.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Carotenoids and vitamin C aren't essential in a poultry diet but Methionine is.

Carotenes in fresh greens will make yolks darker orange since chickens don't synthesize them and they end up coloring the yolk.

Chickens, like most animals have the genetic makeup to synthesize enough vitamin C for their needs so they don't need any in the diet. Chickens under stress, like extreme heat can benefit from vitamin C in the diet but don't need it like humans do.
http://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_US/Compendium/poultry/vitamin_C.html
http://www.jbc.org/content/66/2/813.full.pdf
http://www.wattagnet.com/Adding_vitamin_C_to_pig__poultry_diets.html


Methionine is vitally important and not only needed for growth but is indicated for feathering and performance in poultry. It is the primary limiting amino acid in all ages of poultry. It is also essential in immune cell production, egg production and maintaining body weight. Diets deficient in methionine will induce feather eating and can turn to cannibalism.


http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/poultry_feathers.html
http://www.extension.org/pages/69042/synthetic-methionine-and-organic-poultry-diets
http://www.novusmethionine.com/poultry

Essential constituents of a chicken and turkey diet.

http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G8352

 

[glib]

Carotenes in fresh greens will make yolks darker orange since chickens don't synthesize them and they end up coloring the yolk.

Chickens, like most animals have the genetic makeup to synthesize enough vitamin C for their needs so they don't need any in the diet. Chickens under stress, like extreme heat can benefit from vitamin C in the diet but don't need it like humans do.


Methionine is vitally important and not only needed for growth but is indicated for feathering and performance in poultry. It is the primary limiting amino acid in all ages of poultry. It is also essential in immune cell production, egg production and maintaining body weight. Diets deficient in methionine will induce feather eating and can turn to cannibalism.

and yet one has to wonder why chickens eat so much grass if given a choice. there are almost no calories, very little proteins, no fat. I conclude, and perhaps I am wrong, that they are after unspecified micronutrients.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

probably
I think you're right that micronutrients are understudied and play an important role.

Here, they don't eat much grass, however will forage on young more succulent greens. They rapidly go through a stand of buckwheat, peas, clover, alfalfa, turnips, radish and beets but when I rotate the pasture, grass is the only thing left.

 

[glib]

unlikely that those needs are switched off in winter...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

True, it is unlikely they're switched off but I imagine that they can be provided seasonally in sufficient quantities.
Jungle fowl range from the tropics of SE Asia to the Himalayan foothills. Winter in the Himalayas won't provide many greens either.

 

[glib]

True, it is unlikely they're switched off but I imagine that they can be provided seasonally in sufficient quantities.
Jungle fowl range from the tropics of SE Asia to the Himalayan foothills. Winter in the Himalayas won't provide many greens either.

CC, it is really tropical out there. In Nepal, trees go up to well above 15,000 feet, our tree lines in the rockies are half that.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Heme

​

Sunny but a cold 18 degrees this AM. Gals were anxious...
but I noticed they stand on one leg for a bit and switch to the other quite often....

In other words Heme, your saying that Mommy nature is giving your hens a "cold foot"

 

[ChickenCanoe]

CC, it is really tropical out there. In Nepal, trees go up to well above 15,000 feet, our tree lines in the rockies are half that.

Trees growing at 15,000' doesn't make the environment tropical.

That's largely a function of latitude. Basically, trees grow where they can. Altitudinal zonation isn't just dictated by temperature. The tree line is much lower in the Alps than the Rockies. Considering latitude, tree line in the Mexican Rockies is 13,000 while it's 10,000 in the Tetons. At the same latitude the Tetons tree line is much higher than the White Mountains of New Hampshire - that's a function of summer weather, not winter weather which is similar in both locations.
While temperature has an effect; latitude, humidity, soil composition, biological interaction, solar radiation, physical characteristics and the location of the mountain itself (Massenerhebung effect) all play a role in that altitudinal zonation. Mountains surrounded by higher ranges will have higher tree lines than more isolated mountains.

Regardless of the tree line, it still gets cold. There are trees in Minnesota too.
It gets quite cold in the northern and western part of the original Red Jungle Fowl range - regularly to and well below freezing.
That includes southern Bhutan and even places like Bharatpur, Nepal and Siliguri, India. Chilly winters.