Dixie Chicks

@Amberjem , I am super interested in feeding the chickens anything we can grow/produce to save money. Absolutely! We sell a lot of eggs, but the cost of feed being $12.99 a bag and they gobble down 3 bags a week, plus we have to buy straw & rabbit feed. Yeah, I want to save money somehow. That duckweed looks like a good idea for the summer. Seems messy and like it would freeze this time of year. I can't make it back to the coop without the scraps freezing solid. Had any trouble with it freezing?
 
anyone use june bugs to feed their chickens?


About the first of June those things are thick on our sidewalk and deck and yard....well they used to be until we got the chickens. So do I run out and collect them and give them to the chickens? Only if they happened to escape and they are crossing my path. I'm not as fast as those chooks catching them though.
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Free-rangers have the yard bugs pretty trimmed down.

One thing I dislike though is that the chickens chase and are successful at keeping the dragon flies down in the yard. We need those guys for the mosquito, deer and horse fly population. I literally cringe everytime a chook runs down a dragon fly.
 
@Amberjem , I am super interested in feeding the chickens anything we can grow/produce to save money. Absolutely! We sell a lot of eggs, but the cost of feed being $12.99 a bag and they gobble down 3 bags a week, plus we have to buy straw & rabbit feed. Yeah, I want to save money somehow. That duckweed looks like a good idea for the summer. Seems messy and like it would freeze this time of year. I can't make it back to the coop without the scraps freezing solid. Had any trouble with it freezing?

stale popcorn from movie theaters, and spent grains from any brewery.

Also, wilted dieing produce or food from any grocery store, all restaurants, and food banks. soup kitchens.
 
Also good idea to chat up the folks in the meat or fish counter at the store. I've gotten some buthering and filéeing scraps for free.

Flappy's wound seems to be pretty much healed. I think we might reintroduce him tomorrow. Anyone have any success or horror stories about reintroducing a wounded chick to it's mommy after it's been inside for a while?
 
you can also dry the duckfeed and feed it to them at a later date or can grow it in a small tank or bucket indoors during winter with an airstone... and what @Alaskan said I am leaving right now to go do a green fodder run check the banks n supermarkets for any produce they are getting rid of... I like doing that to keep the green intake up especially during winter...
About the first of June those things are thick on our sidewalk and deck and yard....well they used to be until we got the chickens. So do I run out and collect them and give them to the chickens? Only if they happened to escape and they are crossing my path. I'm not as fast as those chooks catching them though.
wink.png
Free-rangers have the yard bugs pretty trimmed down.

One thing I dislike though is that the chickens chase and are successful at keeping the dragon flies down in the yard. We need those guys for the mosquito, deer and horse fly population. I literally cringe everytime a chook runs down a dragon fly.
ohh we have lotsa dragon flys here to eat the skeeters.. I love watching them dance around the hills after them... I think I saw a bat the other day...............
@Amberjem , I am super interested in feeding the chickens anything we can grow/produce to save money. Absolutely! We sell a lot of eggs, but the cost of feed being $12.99 a bag and they gobble down 3 bags a week, plus we have to buy straw & rabbit feed. Yeah, I want to save money somehow. That duckweed looks like a good idea for the summer. Seems messy and like it would freeze this time of year. I can't make it back to the coop without the scraps freezing solid. Had any trouble with it freezing?
though even if it freezes I dont see it being a problem they are tiny lil plants and the chickens can still eat em........it's a win win for me I grow it in my tanks.. I use to sell some on ebay and or around town...with my overgrowth I was very strict about maintaning it in my tanks it is sooooo fast growing but now I have the chickens finally I letting it go and just scoop and feed... It filters and cleans my tanks and feeds the chickens...rabbits also will eat it duks of course love it..and if you raise food fish it feeds them as well............
 
Duckweed disappears in winter, ponds froze over anyway. They say it has a lot of moisture in it, drying is best. I feed it to them fresh but have thought of drying it out on my garage roof for winter. I have a 12'x24' low slope addition on my garage with a metal roof. Probably want to make sure there is no wind. I could fill a pickup truck with what's on the pond and it grows fast. I feed mine ground up bluegills and perch my kids catch fishing all summer. Plus I have access to free cottage cheese at work, they love it. I'm going to be growing out jersey giants and langshans for meat birds and they take forever to get to size, have to do something to cut costs. Can't butcher giants early either, they say they grow their massive bone structure first and then put on meat.
 

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