Confused.......how can you afford to feed your chickens

[dmiravalle]

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Sometimes this is true, but ultimately we are going to eat some of them, so I want to know what goes into them. I cook rice for my dogs because we feed a mix a raw food from meat animals we raised (parts/cuts we don't want) and kibble. If you look at a lot of dog foods, the ingredients are better than what 50% or so of america eats. Very confusing I know.

Shoot we could feed starving people dog food (high end) and they would be eating better than us working folks......

 

[paisleycj]

I've raised chickens for most of 40 years. We always give them any table scraps the dogs won't eat. We've also bought day old bread to help supplement the feed. One of the best ideas came from my 'city slicker' husband. He let pumpkins and squash freeze, then he'll bring one in the house to let it thaw and take it out to the coop. The first time I came upon a pumpkin thawing in a bucket in the kitchen I was a bit worried.

Right now I work at a Deli, so I am always bringing home scraps for the girls. I brought home a box of bananas two weeks ago they went nutts over. I'll be glad when they can roam in the spring again. Throughout the year between not feeding them much extra in the summer and then the cost of feed in the winter, it balances out.

I do try to watch what they get fed, as far as processed scraps. I'm not sure how sugar laden foods affect chickens, but it can't be good n large doses.

I do have a question. We always get huge amounts of left over cooked chicken at work. It's hormone free chicken. My co-workers pick on me because I won't feed it to my chickens. I just can't do it. I know the chickens wouldn't care, but it just doesn't seem right to me. Any comments? Should I? Shouldn't I? Is it just for emotional reasons I can't feed cooked chicken meat to chickens, or is there a biological reason for this?

 

[MsPony]

Has anyone covered free ranging? My bag of pellets (organic and soy free) are $30/50#, however I don't have to buy any for 3-4 months due to free ranging. Which makes it less than $10/month.

Mine are backyard hens and have the entire backyard except the concrete patios. I do small scale rotational grazing by putting a chick tractor over a spot and allowing the grass to grow up high, then moving the tractor to a new area. Otherwise they get seed mixes of mainly wheat, safflower and BOSS, both inexpensive and easy to grow yourself.

You can also mark off a circular area with chicken wire then allowing plants to grow, the chooks will eat the "excess" that pokes through the wire. Someone was doing amaranth and some other stuff.

Its gardening season here, so I have been turning over the gardens in the front (used for flowers) and running back with handfuls of worms and snails. I even let my 7 year old barred rock out to scratch around, as she won't go anywhere.

Its the cheapest way ever to feed. I sell my eggs for $6/dozen which pays for food.

 

[Dogfish]

I sell enough eggs to pay for their feed.

 

[FireTigeris]

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No, cooked meat is safe for them.

 

[Denninmi]

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I'm not aware of any safety issues feeding cooked chicken back to chickens. My girls dined on some leftover chicken pot pie last night. We have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- they don't ask what it is, and I don't tell them.

Seriously, there IS a biological safety issue feeding lamb or mutton back to sheep, or beef back to cattle, due to spongiform encephalopathy diseases -- scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy aka "mad cow" in cattle. But, none in poultry that we seem to know of to date.

Personally, I wouldn't give up the gift of such a high protein, nutritious free food. The chickens will love to have it. If you don't tell, I can guarantee they won't ask.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I buy bulk and it is half the price. If you can find others to go in with you then you all save. I buy 1000 pounds at a time and have to unload it, bulk style but it's a good workout!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Ranging and the garden help tremendously in the summer, but aren't much help the other half of the year.

I am grateful to have found a source for quality layer crumbles/pellets that saves me $5 per 100 lbs. Family Farm and Home sells Armada Feed cheaper than Purina and cheaper than TSC sells DuMor. Every bit helps. But, since corn, wheat, oats and soy are all commodities, like crude oil, and are heading north in price, it isn't going to get much cheaper for awhile.

 

[Loon]

We feed our hens a lot of table scraps in addition to their layer mash. This is food that we would be throwing out anyway. They love things like a little fat off the edge of a steak or the ends of celery or broccoli leaves etc. This helps cut down how much they eat. Also, when the weather is nice they free range and eat grass and bugs and little frogs and worms etc. We grow extra hubbard squash and pumpkins for them. They keep a long time in storage. We also have apple trees and they eat apples and get into the grape vines on their own too and pig out. One day I even cleaned out of the back of my pantry some old canned goods and opened them and fed the contents to the hens. I think it was canned spinach and beans. They're like pigs. They gobble everything up you feed them.

 

[ravenseye57]

If you can get whole grains and legumes such as wheatberries, whole oat groats, lentils, etc (if there are no farms nearby that have them they're often available in large bags from your local coop or buying club if there is one) sprout them and feed them as a supplement. Sprouting increases the nutrient content of the feed.