Feeding my chickens I'm new to this

[Gab1]

I feed my girls a whole seed and grain diet, consisting of corn, wheat, chia, amaranth, linseed, sesame, sunflower seeds. Cider vinegar and garlic in their water will keep them healthy along with plenty of fresh greens. Silverbeet, watercress, spinach etc.,. Not sure about Soy as it's the most genetically modified food and what they eat ends up in our eggs. So Soy's a no go for me. Oyster shell is better than lime as they need some grit in their crops to process their food so lime won't do this. Sea shell grit is good for this as is tiny gravel. Your chickens getting bumble foot would make me feel that their feed isn't sufficient for them. They do need protein and soy is cheaper than meat. DE is great!!! so you're doing well here. Remember what you feed your girls ends up in your eggs, so being mean doesn't pay, as you're not getting the nutritional advantage of the best eggs in the whole wide world. HOpe this helps a bit. They do need room to move about and exercise properly so that they keep the muscles in their legs healthy. Might be too tight a space - give them more if you can.

 

[quack quack cluck]

DE is bad news: it is a respiratory irritant, to humans and birds, and kills insects indiscriminately (so you would be killing off beneficial insects as well as whatever it is you think you might be controlling by giving it to your chickens). The health and environmental dangers are not worth any hoped-for gain. It is a potential carcinogen (cancer-causing), though only in high quantities.

As far as feed, that's a pretty low price for large bag of feed. Keeping chickens isn't cheap, but there's plenty you can do to help keep costs down: 1. chickens are omnivores, so give them all your leftover foods and scraps (anything that isn't good for them they are not likely to eat. As long as you aren't starving them, you can trust them to pick and choose what they need). Mine have full access to the compost and eat what they want while adding nutrients and turning the pile so I don't have to! 2. Let them roam and forage as much as possible -- lots of bugs for protein as well as grit and greens are available just by letting them feed themselves. But don't expose them to pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, etc that you might use in garden or lawn. 3. A varied collection of grains and seeds bought in bulk is usually cheaper than packaged chicken feed. Sounds like you are already doing that. Go for things high in protein, and change it around periodically so that they get a variety of nutrients. 4. Do you have an orchard nearby? Many will let you collect fallen/bruised/ rotting fruit for free or very cheap (freeze it and you can have months worth to add to the grains and scraps).

 

[Frostette]

Feed them commercial food! I’m not sure why you find it so expensive. How many chickens do you have? There are fancy brands but feed stores have their own also. Then add lots of greens and kitchen scraps

 

[Ila88]

I won't have meat birds again. I didn't know the difference, and I wasn't raising them for meat anyway. They do eat a LOT, don't lay many eggs, and because of their size and fat feet, tend to get a lot of bumblefoot.

 

[Ila88]

I also find that pellets go further than mash or crumbles. Not so much waste. You could also dampen the food which saves it from being spread all over. Ditto what others have said about veggies and kitchen scraps. Between my chickens and alpacas I hardly throw anything away.

 

[Judy Todd]

Everyone has been tripped up at some point in their lives.
BYC is a supportive and helpful bunch of great people.....that also have a tremendous amount of knowledge to share.



X2

Not laughing one little bit. Definitely wanting to help where I can.

At one point there were 9 in this house. Relatives had moved in.
I get it that feeding a large family is expensive.
Sell extra eggs, put that $ in a chicken jar. Try to buy the feed with just that cash. When things are rolling good here I can feed, provide shavings and a few treats with the chicken jar cash. It does not last the year through though since mine take winter off. It does last about half the year.
If you plant a garden....plant only what your family will actually use. I have found that I can grow some things in abundance while others take up to much space for what they yield or my family does not like them. Even though they said they would eat them.

 

[Judy Todd]

I agree, your meat birds should have been butchered at 8 or 9 weeks. But, they will still be delicious, fill your freezer now and enjoy all winter. I sell eggs (14 layers) like someone else mentioned, put it in a jar. That is what pays for my feed. My gals have not stopped laying in the winter, guess they are just too happy. They do free range all day. I average 8 to 12 eggs a day and have friends waiting for my eggs. I also feed some cppked eggs to my dogs, about once a week. My guess is that my gals do not et as much as yours because they are out in the orchard during the day. Also, I do not have a problem with wasted feed on the floor. Do you have a hanging feeder?

 

[Judy Todd]

DE is bad news: it is a respiratory irritant, to humans and birds, and kills insects indiscriminately (so you would be killing off beneficial insects as well as whatever it is you think you might be controlling by giving it to your chickens). The health and environmental dangers are not worth any hoped-for gain. It is a potential carcinogen (cancer-causing), though only in high quantities.

As far as feed, that's a pretty low price for large bag of feed. Keeping chickens isn't cheap, but there's plenty you can do to help keep costs down: 1. chickens are omnivores, so give them all your leftover foods and scraps (anything that isn't good for them they are not likely to eat. As long as you aren't starving them, you can trust them to pick and choose what they need). Mine have full access to the compost and eat what they want while adding nutrients and turning the pile so I don't have to! 2. Let them roam and forage as much as possible -- lots of bugs for protein as well as grit and greens are available just by letting them feed themselves. But don't expose them to pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, etc that you might use in garden or lawn. 3. A varied collection of grains and seeds bought in bulk is usually cheaper than packaged chicken feed. Sounds like you are already doing that. Go for things high in protein, and change it around periodically so that they get a variety of nutrients. 4. Do you have an orchard nearby? Many will let you collect fallen/bruised/ rotting fruit for free or very cheap (freeze it and you can have months worth to add to the grains and scraps).

 

[Judy Todd]

I wanted to add, that my gals free range in the orchard, so plenty of food there. I, also grow kale, swiss chard, carrots, winter squash and pumpkins , half for my gals and half for me. They get anything left over from the kitchen also, esp when I am canning. I have been experimenting with cooked potatoes,, which are great for ducks. I grow lots of that also. I make sure all this is just 10 to 15 % of their daily diet. But it sure makes a difference in how much purchased feed they eat. And does not seem to affect their laying.

 

[spaceylocust]

One of the best methods to reduce feed costs is to ferment your chicken feed (no pellets). Very easy to do. Get a 5 gal food grade bucket since you have a large flock. You'll be preparing their food for the next day so put in the dry feed in the quantity you usually feed them during the day to start off with. Add enough water to just cover the feed and add a glug (1/8th cup to 1/4 cup or so) of organic apple cider vinegar with the mother and stir. Add more water until you have a firm mush, similar to medium dry cooked oatmeal. Not runny but not too dry either. Loosely cover and let it sit overnight. You'll need to use feeder trays or shallow bowls since this won't go through the dry feeders. I feed my kids twice a day and they free range during the day. No waste, no picked out goodies, and better nutrition. Feed only as much as they can eat in 15 minutes twice a day. You may be able to reduce the amount of dry feed you have to use. The ferment process increases the available nutrition uptake of the grains so your birds will be able to assimilate the nutrition better. Also, if you garden, throw them treats and bugs and let them turn the garden for you at season's end!

If you keep your bucket in a warm location, you'll want to ferment enough for 1-2 days max. After you use some, just add more feed and water and stir. If it is cooler, you'll want to plan for 3-4 days so the ferment process can have enough time. There is an excellent conversation about this on this forum so just search for fermented feed and enjoy reading.