Things are getting crazy expensive, animal feed is one of the big ones. I'm curious what everyone is doing to cut down their feed costs?
one of the things I have been doing is finding whole seeds I can sprout. I ran into an issue of where to sport them, until it hit me again. Plants do not care where they grow. Fodder is happy to sport is a feed bag with leaves.
I have been getting any kind of whole seeds I can. Bird seeds, like what you would put in a bird feeder is one of the things I look for. I always check yo make sure the plants from the seeds are safe. Whole corn will grow, and so will black oil sunflower seeds! The orange bag of sunflower seeds from tractor supply grow like CRAZY. After this year, I'll never have to buy the corn or sunflower again because they grow so ferociously. This is one of my feed bag folders sprouting, the chickens get to kick through the leaves and eat any bugs that are attracted to them.
I just fill the bags with water every few days, to the top of the leaves. Leaves can hold up to 5 times their weight in water which makes them perfect for this, and they are free. You can also use dirt, or used chicken bedding. The poo in the bedding would feed the seeds more than plain leaves as they grow. You really just need something that will absorb water to keep the seeds moist while sprouting.
This bag will be ready for chickens in a few more days, but I could let it go longer and get taller plants for the chickens to eat.
You can see corn and sunflower sprouts in there, but there are many more things.
Sprouts are more nutritious than dry seeds, they are also much bigger which means more food in chicken bellies!
I also keep my chickens is tractors which have 3 stories so they get to jump around and have fresh grass every day. Fresh grass is alone isn't enough though. They need variety in their greens to meet their nutritional needs and keep them from getting bored. They also get a mix of feeds, 2 parts Purina layena omega pellets, 1 part dumor all flock pellets, and 1 part flock party garden grains. I mix these seeds instead of sprouting because they have ferments in them which are great for the chickens, but they go rancid when you try sprouting.
How are you stretching your feed?
one of the things I have been doing is finding whole seeds I can sprout. I ran into an issue of where to sport them, until it hit me again. Plants do not care where they grow. Fodder is happy to sport is a feed bag with leaves.
I have been getting any kind of whole seeds I can. Bird seeds, like what you would put in a bird feeder is one of the things I look for. I always check yo make sure the plants from the seeds are safe. Whole corn will grow, and so will black oil sunflower seeds! The orange bag of sunflower seeds from tractor supply grow like CRAZY. After this year, I'll never have to buy the corn or sunflower again because they grow so ferociously. This is one of my feed bag folders sprouting, the chickens get to kick through the leaves and eat any bugs that are attracted to them.
I just fill the bags with water every few days, to the top of the leaves. Leaves can hold up to 5 times their weight in water which makes them perfect for this, and they are free. You can also use dirt, or used chicken bedding. The poo in the bedding would feed the seeds more than plain leaves as they grow. You really just need something that will absorb water to keep the seeds moist while sprouting.
This bag will be ready for chickens in a few more days, but I could let it go longer and get taller plants for the chickens to eat.
You can see corn and sunflower sprouts in there, but there are many more things.
Sprouts are more nutritious than dry seeds, they are also much bigger which means more food in chicken bellies!
I also keep my chickens is tractors which have 3 stories so they get to jump around and have fresh grass every day. Fresh grass is alone isn't enough though. They need variety in their greens to meet their nutritional needs and keep them from getting bored. They also get a mix of feeds, 2 parts Purina layena omega pellets, 1 part dumor all flock pellets, and 1 part flock party garden grains. I mix these seeds instead of sprouting because they have ferments in them which are great for the chickens, but they go rancid when you try sprouting.
How are you stretching your feed?
