Eating me into bankruptcy!

[azygous]

I don't have horses, but a close friend supplies me with all their horse poop for my compost pile. My chickens spend long happy hours picking through the manure for bugs and stuff. It's perfectly safe.

Chickens have a long history as a species of co-existing with large animals and gleaning edibles from their droppings. Many of our BYC members raise their chickens alongside other animals and depend on them getting a large part of their nutrition from free ranging among these animals.

It's all part of a natural food chain. Don't worry, chickens aren't eating the poop, just the goodies they find hidden in it.

 

[shortgrass]

@LaCageAuxFowls, I believe the eggs would be fine. It would be such a minimal amount in the droppings that it shouldn't show up in the eggs. I dount it would really harm them at all since its not the chickens being directly dosed?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hello the forum! I have a BUNCH (40+) chicks. They are 5 weeks old and all feathered out. I buy a 50 lb bag of chick starter, and they eat it all in less than a week! I leave feed in there for them 24/7, can I get by with feeding them once or twice a day or do they require access to food at all times? I have 7 full grown hens that forage for most of their food. I feed them a big scoop of layer feed once a day, usually in the evening. If they fill up in the morning they don't forage as well! A 50 lb bag of layer feed lasts almost a month. What say ye? Best regards, JA

Hi.

I also ferment my feed and have between 40 and 60 chickens of different ages... chicks, hens, cockerels. I go through 200# of Flock Raiser (20%protein) per month. I also ferment and free range. Note, my 50# bag is NOT 3 or 4% oyster shell... I serve that on the side.

Chicks that are awake 24/7 being brooded under a light eat way more than chicks that are sleeping under a broody hen. And when in the brooder they have no way to forage. Get them out to pasture asap... saves more than fermenting for me. And think about another brooding method in the future.

I have chicks from the same hatch, some went to a broody while the rest were under a light. No surprise the ones who were up eating all throughout the night are bigger (at least right now) than the ones who were sleeping all night and waiting at the door every morning to get some feed.

If you haven't broken them off the lamp yet, I would do that instead of feeding a couple times a day.

Whatever you choose... don't go bankrupt!

I mix like thick oatmeal. I also have 2, 18 gallon totes... one ferments a whole 50# bag while I feed the other one out. Works great for my climate.

@shortgrass I'm just guessing you can only get your grains that cheap because you are buying in major bulk?

 

[shortgrass]

@EggSighted4Life, that IS a major part of it

The guys that bring our feed are an organic millet farm, and we get 50# bags of millet and corn for $5 apiece, and we get pellets from them too, for $7/50#. Then I mix it in 55 gallon drums until I need it. The millet isn't cleaned though, that's why we get it cheaper...lol I even found a dried up toad in it once...

But really, they're chickens. I considered it a "jerky snack'


We also scrounge for leftovers... We scored 500# of free wheat two summers ago when the combine had to clean out its hopper and left a pile on the ground.


The priciest addition is the BOSS. That's not cheap

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

@EggSighted4Life , that IS a major part of it

The guys that bring our feed are an organic millet farm, and we get 50# bags of millet and corn for $5 apiece, and we get pellets from them too, for $7/50#. Then I mix it in 55 gallon drums until I need it. The millet isn't cleaned though, that's why we get it cheaper...lol I even found a dried up toad in it once...

But really, they're chickens. I considered it a "jerky snack'

We also scrounge for leftovers... We scored 500# of free wheat two summers ago when the combine had to clean out its hopper and left a pile on the ground.


The priciest addition is the BOSS. That's not cheap

"Jerky snack"!