Chickens of yesteryear....

[Wolfwoman]

Did great gramma and grampa FEED their chickens, or did they just let em eat what they could out of the farmyard?

It seems that if we can free range our birds, is there a need for store bought feed?

 

[tdgill]

I do believe the chickens were fed as well as free ranging for food. At least as many scraps etc as you could give them along with some grains most likely. A neighbor of mine who had chickens when I was a kid used to get "days old" bread by the truckload. Literally a big pile of loafed breads. A friend of his must've worked for a bakery or something. He fed his chickens and hunting beagles the bread.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Perhaps, if you were running a farm, with fields of corn or wheat, soybeans, or whatever. Or feeding beef, pigs, or other livestock with grains or other feed which the chickens could also consume. And you threw all of your kitchen scraps out for them, too. And your own meals were similar to your gramma's and grampa's. Bet they didn't compost their kitchen food scraps, and included any meat bits they didn't consume in soups or stews.

My grandmother was raised on a farm in Kansas. They did buy feed for their chickens, just not formulated the way we do at this present time. And of course, it was supplemented by kitchen scraps and what the chickens could find around the farm.

 

[Jeremy Parker]

I'm a genertion chicken raising my gradma said she had feed for the chickens and table scraps.

She actually said the food for the chickens was called scratch. She said thier was coarse corn, wheat, oats and not sure on the rest.

She said her mother would go out the front door in the moring and throw it on the ground chickens would come running.

Blessings,
Jeremy

 

[Wolfwoman]

Interesting, always wondered about that

So, what did chickens eat before WE came along?

 

[Lesa]

I think so much depends on where you live and how much land you have for free ranging. Wolfwoman, I think you can pretty much forget it for most of the year in Alaska!! Even here in upstate NY, I am lucky if the birds will even walk in the snow- and the bugs are long gone. I bet if you had land in Florida, you could easily do it...There are lots of "wild" chickens living in the Keys. I am sure they find garbage/food, etc, but the bug population is never ending! Same thing as the dogs of yesteryear. Dog food was unheard of- you fed your dog table scraps. Times change-now the pet food industry is huge!

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
What Granma fed the chickens? Well, my strongest memory is getting spurred my her mean old rooster when I was about 9 years old. (Granma traveled to Oregon in a Wagon Train when she was 9, so you do the math) But for chicken feed, it was free range year round with all the table scraps tossed to the chickens. I do somewhat remember grains tossed out in the winter time, I assume the grain came from their own farming production.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Lesa isn't that the truth!! No, I wasn't thinking of MINE...lol Except they have TONS to forage in the summer. It was just a general question, as we all seem SO concerned with what they eat.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

"When I was a kid, chickens weren't invented yet"

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Chickens in an appropriate climate and habitat (they are descended from jungle fowl, so not Alaska) would be able to SURVIVE on freely found food, but probably would not produce the eggs or meat we are accustomed to.

I want my eggs and meat I therefore feed, protect, water and shelter my chickens during their lives. It is like a Domestication Contract.

Now, there is nothing wrong with finding cheaper and more natural-to-chickens sources of food for your birds. Every environment provides something, but not always available in every season or good as an exclusive food.