Does anyone feed chickens "the old fashioned" way?

[hcammack]

Quote:
Corn and oats won't provide a full diet to your birds I know that most people want to feed their birds naturally but as I have a laying flock I am going to feed. My girls get free choice layer ration and are moved to fresh grass every day they also get veggies and limited scratch. I think unless your birds have huge amounts of very diverse enviroments you should not let them fend for themselves. Modern layer breeds cannot support their hight production and size on pasture alone although some or the older heritage birds may be able to I agree that egg production and weight gain for meat would be much lower. I am always going to free range or pasture my birds though because they are healthier and also get many more option of feed it also drops feed prices especially in spring and summer.

 

[lalyswishytail]

Especially for "camccany:"

If I were the farmer, everything would be organically grown. However, I'm not the farmer and the land on which the chickens will roam is treated with some pesticides, (I don't know anything about them). Do I need to worry about my chickens running around on treated land?

 

[cgmccary]

Lalyswish . . I would try & find out what "pesticide" was used there before; I would not let it stop me from free ranging my chickens. I had noticed a marked decrease in fertility in my eggs and for the first time, some deformities with newly hatched chicks (abnormally high)-- this made me start looking at any toxins anywhere. I stopped using sevin and the rotenone I used to kill poultry mites. Rotenone used to be approved for organic farming (is why I chose it), but a couple of very valid studies, I found, had directly linked it to Parkinson's disease. The fortunate thing about a lot of pesticides today[ that are used is that they DO break down in sunlight (thanks to regulation). The unfortunate thing is that "studies" often take a long time & you've got to know about them.

Also, I called my City and found the stuff they were spraying weekly in the air varied-- they'd change it up so the "mosquitos" wouldn't adapt. I made them tell me the 3 or 4 different pesticides they were floating in the air through my neighborhood. I looked them all up and found a couple of them to be carcinogenic; all of them were suspected in causing embryonic deformities. There is no safe pesticide. I just believe it is OK to use them-- it just needs to be done a lot more responsibly, that's all. I also found advisements that instructed parents to wash children's toys that were outside and pet's food dishes after aerial sprayings. Whole neighborhoods and subdivisions in many cities had already banned together & stopped the mosquitos spraying in their areas. When I called, the City manager said I was the first person that had ever called and asked it be stopped. He said if they missed a week in an area that they'd receive many calls asking when were they going to spray (i.e. people mad because they didn't spray) -- he said, they;d say, ". . . the mosquitos are eating us up." Elderly people would fear West Nile (which I have always believed was hyped up). Such is the mentality where I reside (there's more but I won't bore you with those details & you'd think Alabamians were really crazy if I did). Mosquitos are best controlled in the larval stage-- such as, empty standing water; and I use those dunks (a natural control-- you can buy them at Wal-Mart cheapest) and like I said I have the bat house (I add a second one for spring trying to attract a colony of Brown Bat females (they eat their body weight each night in bugs) -- anyway, enough rant, huh?--just my take.

 

[morelcabin]

If you want to fed them more naturally try a pigeon feed. It is comprised of all individual grains, seeds, beans and corn. That is what I feed simply because it is not altered in any way and they absolutely love it. Make sure you give oyster shell and grit along with it though. My birds are doing very well on it. I've added whole bran and scratch to it as well.

 

[cgmccary]

morelcabin:

If you want to fed them more naturally try a pigeon feed.​

out of curiosity, what is the protein content of the pigeon feed?​

 

[moduckman]

In the old days and even now in the not so old days, farmers will venture to the pond two to three times a day with ax in hand. At the pond he will walk to the ponds' edge and chop a hole about 12"x12" for the cows, who follow him to the pond. He may also take a bucket on one of his trips. He will fill the bucket and give it to his birds upon returning to the barn. The birds will gather around the pan for, many a day, what is their only chance at water for the day.

 

[morelcabin]

I really don't know what the protein content of pigeon feed is off hand, and iot's 26 below out there so I am not going to check at the moment:>) LOL! , but I do know this...free ranged chickens don't have any idea how much protein they are eating, they pick and choose according to what thier bodies tell them on any given day...just like they do with the pigeon feed, they pick and choose what grains seeds etc they want...It's all free choice

Oh, and I also noticed, since starting them on this a few weeks ago, the dirty bottoms they were getting from the stress of the cold weather has cleared up and they are looking very healthy...and still laying well

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

My dad is 83 and I asked him this question as his parents always had chickens. He said they only kept enough over the winter to lay enough eggs for the family and his mom would go out twice a day with fresh thawed water for the hens. Sometimes three times a day depending on how cold it was. They would cull 1/2 of their flock right before winter for food every year about the same time. Then right before spring they would allow a few hens to hatch out a bunch and start all over again. They would then cull the hens that lived through that current winter for the next winters food by that time the new hens would be laying eggs already.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
If you want to fed them more naturally try a pigeon feed.

out of curiosity, what is the protein content of the pigeon feed?

They have different blends. The bad thing is the last time I bought a bag it was $27 / 50lbs.

Google "Bay Mor" or "Kaytee" and you can find more info

 

[rigagirl]

tackyrama i love you barn setup.