Eat with chickens

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Do you feed the BSFL to your chickens? I used to raise them for the fish in my aquaponics garden but need to do some major work to get the harvester back up and running.

I don't know what is BSFL (I live in Germany). I used the commercial feed for laying hens and then added what we have at hand. Besides winter, they have tons of homegrown veggies to enjoy. Last year we harvested about 150kg of veggies and fruits, and I guessed, chickens consumed at least another 50kg, especially all kinds of leafy greens.

 

[Shadrach]

Love it.
Can I come round for supper?
I did much the same but they still rumaged through the compost heap digging bugs out of the sheep and donky shite.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

And sounds like you already compost…for those who don’t diverting food waste that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill has other benefits…reduces odor/pests, reduces methane created, and saves landfill space.

Win-win-win-win-win?

Yes, I am trying to build a more balanced ecosystem for the entire garden. Last year I tried to directly compost those chicken-safe materials in the run area of my bigger flock (with eight hens), so far, so good. They help to clean up the rest of the sunflowers, dahlias (I didn't know they love Dahlias' leaves so much), and raspberries in the late autumn.

Another thing I want to build this year is a simple tractor for another win-win: hen weeding.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Love it.
Can I come round for supper?
I did much the same but they still rumaged through the compost heap digging bugs out of the sheep and donky shite.

Yes, no matter how much they already have, they can't say no to compost!

 

[WIchickMama]

I compost IN my chicken run, so pile and flock don’t compete for organics.

I never thought about this! Does it attract other "fun" animals? How much space do you need for this? I am going to add this in the run this summer!!

I love giving my chickens the scraps!

 

[Sally PB]

I have a compost bucket on the counter that collects all the kitchen waste. Unfortunately, it collects some things that the chickens shouldn't have, like coffee grounds. So the bucket contents go into the compost bin. DH thinks we have too much clutter/junk on the counter already (he's right), so a separate bucket for non-chicken waste is just not going to happen.

That said, I do save some things separate for them, like squash and melon guts, seeds, and rind. That stuff goes into the run when I give them their afternoon snack, which is a mash made out of their normal feed.

 

[Sally PB]

I forgot to add that in a couple months when it warms up, I'm going to be harvesting some niiiiice compost out of the run! Then they'll get a bunch of wood chips, leaves, etc. to scratch around in. Win-win!

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I have a compost bucket on the counter that collects all the kitchen waste. Unfortunately, it collects some things that the chickens shouldn't have, like coffee grounds. So the bucket contents go into the compost bin. DH thinks we have too much clutter/junk on the counter already (he's right), so a separate bucket for non-chicken waste is just not going to happen.

That said, I do save some things separate for them, like squash and melon guts, seeds, and rind. That stuff goes into the run when I give them their afternoon snack, which is a mash made out of their normal feed.

I also found it takes a lot of space on the counter if there are two containers. So I collected bigger glass jars for the extra bonus for the chickens. It works quite nicely and won't attract those small flies.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I forgot to add that in a couple months when it warms up, I'm going to be harvesting some niiiiice compost out of the run! Then they'll get a bunch of wood chips, leaves, etc. to scratch around in. Win-win!

Same same
I need to harvest compost for the raised beds too, and then they will enjoy a lot of new materials to play with.

Chickens: We love to do that all day!

 

[3KillerBs]

I toss the scraps from meal prep into a random bowl as I work and then, immediately once I'm done prepping, I throw the scraps into the run. That way I don't have a special bucket taking up counter space.