Does anyone grow all their own feed?

[FrugalFannie]

Does anyone grow all their own feed for their free range chickens? By this I mean planting your free range area with specific crops/grasses for starters. What do you plant? How long do you leave your chickens in what size area to "graze?" (ie 40 chickens 1/4 acre for a week before rotating or what?) Do you also "grow" black soldier flies, larvae, etc for them? Anyone grow sunflowers to provide seeds to the flock? I'm looking for a "formula" to scale/follow with as few outside inputs as possible and make it sustainable. Anyone use dairy goats to use their milk as more "feed" for the flock? If so, how many goats producing how much milk for how many chickens?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I have read several threads of the years of people proposing such a thing, but the consensus is that it would be very time consuming and not cost effective. Chickens will peck at foliage but they are not grazers; you would need to harvest the grains and have an appropriate mixture that would be nutritionally well rounded.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Does anyone grow all their own feed for their free range chickens? By this I mean planting your free range area with specific crops/grasses for starters. What do you plant? How long do you leave your chickens in what size area to "graze?" (ie 40 chickens 1/4 acre for a week before rotating or what?) Do you also "grow" black soldier flies, larvae, etc for them? Anyone grow sunflowers to provide seeds to the flock? I'm looking for a "formula" to scale/follow with as few outside inputs as possible and make it sustainable. Anyone use dairy goats to use their milk as more "feed" for the flock? If so, how many goats producing how much milk for how many chickens?

It is best to leave the poultry nutrition up to the poultry experts. Chickens need a balanced diet including all the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals needed to be happy and healthy. Poultry experts have put many hours, science, and time into developing feed that is right for the backyard chicken's health. I don't think its bad to supplement their diet with healthy treats but to make sure they get all the nutritional elements that they need, it might be best to feed them a poultry feed that is formulated for chickens.

 

[Mr Pink]

LOL how in the world did chickens survive before the "poultry Experts " came along !

 

[Folly's place]

In the 'good old days', chickens were smaller and layed many fewer eggs per year, and lived in a richer environment if on a farm.
Jungle fowl in SE Asia are small, lay a clutch of eggs each year, and live short lives because of predation.
Most chickens originally were raised for fighting or religious festivals, not meat or eggs.
Old family farms had many different plants growing, feed for diverse livestock, and those smaller lower producing chickens. And many chicken dinners!
Our birds grow larger, and may lay 300 eggs each year, and that's very hard work! And there's not really much to eat in most backyards...
Modern poultry feed is wonderful stuff; a complete balanced diet in a bag, for way less cost than any of us could grow it in small quantities at home.
Mary

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

LOL how in the world did chickens survive before the "poultry Experts " came along !

Keep in mind, we as man has breed and altered their original state as a species. We have selected certain traits and deselected others leaving them with weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Yes, before we started to breed them they did fine in the wild, but since them we have altered them. Additionally, most of us as chicken owners want our birds to live long healthy lives. If we did not want them to have any staying power then maybe leaving them to their own devises would make sense.

I understand your point, but since many of us treat our chickens as pets, it makes sense to feed them correctly. If you have breeds that are suitable to vitamin deficiencies such as the Silkie, it is even more important to feed them a complete feed formulated for chickens.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

In the 'good old days', chickens were smaller and layed many fewer eggs per year, and lived in a richer environment if on a farm.
Jungle fowl in SE Asia are small, lay a clutch of eggs each year, and live short lives because of predation.
Most chickens originally were raised for fighting or religious festivals, not meat or eggs.
Old family farms had many different plants growing, feed for diverse livestock, and those smaller lower producing chickens. And many chicken dinners!
Our birds grow larger, and may lay 300 eggs each year, and that's very hard work! And there's not really much to eat in most backyards...
Modern poultry feed is wonderful stuff; a complete balanced diet in a bag, for way less cost than any of us could grow it in small quantities at home.
Mary

I agree!! We have altered the chicken from is original species. We have breed them to be bigger, fluffier, lay better, and so forth. This has incased their need for nutrition that cannot be found out hunting a pecking. A complete poultry feed is essential for having a happy and healthy backyard flock whether you decide to free range them or are not able too.

 

[FrugalFannie]

I agree!! We have altered the chicken from is original species. We have breed them to be bigger, fluffier, lay better, and so forth. This has incased their need for nutrition that cannot be found out hunting a pecking. A complete poultry feed is essential for having a happy and healthy backyard flock whether you decide to free range them or are not able too.

Darby Simpson would have to disagree with your assertion.
I'm going to read and listen to all the info (ok maybe not ALL) he has put out. It can be done. I don't give myself artificial crap I'm not about to raise chickens and give them a bunch of chemicals and crap they were not designed to intake.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Ah, those evil chemicals. If only we could rid the world of them all (bye bye H2O). I rarely hear that term used by people who have a good grasp of chemistry lol. I love those memes that say don't eat something if you can't pronounce what's on the ingredient list, which means if you're looking to expand your menu, get a PhD in Chemistry (or even cheaper, learn to sound things out), and maybe do a little research that doesn't solely involve mom blogs.


If you like horror stories, here is the label from my feed bag:

Edit: attached too many times

 

[FrugalFannie]

Ah, those evil chemicals. If only we could rid the world of them all (bye bye H2O). I rarely hear that term used by people who have a good grasp of chemistry lol. I love those memes that say don't eat something if you can't pronounce what's on the ingredient list, which means if you're looking to expand your menu, get a PhD in Chemistry (or even cheaper, learn to sound things out), and maybe do a little research that doesn't solely involve mom blogs.

Just because you like to poison yourself doesn't mean you should make fun of those of us who are more discerning. And while water (h2o) is a chemical somposition, I think most people realize that wasn't the type of thing I was referring to. I choose not to eat food that I know does not have man made chemicals sprayed on it. I believe in healthy biology of plants, animals and soils. Sorry if that's beyond you. I do not take pharmaceutical concoctions and I haven't been sick in over 30 years. I cook (almost) all my own food from single ingredients without using grains, soy or sugar. I choose not to eat these things and I prefer not to have these things fed to the animals I eat which is why we will be raising our own chickens in the near future as it's impossible to find and really know what goes into meat we buy.

*Edited by staff*