Feeding the "Old fashioned way"

[shortgrass]

What kind of peas are you using?  I am planning to grow some next year along with corn and a few other ingredients (oats, etc).

Indy

I have snap and asparagus peas in the garden...but the chickens get the most out of Austrian Winter peas.. It's a cover crop so they arent really fitting for HUMAN consumption; they're tiny and taste weird lol... ...But the chickens don't complain!

Edit: I've also found that certain radishes when left to bolt, make way more seed pods than the mere 1 radish...they taste DELICIOUS and the chooks fight over those too ... I've had the best luck with organic purple ones...they get HUGE!

 

[shortgrass]

I found a great link to detailed info on what is needed in a chickens' diet at different stages...it states grains, legumes, supplements etc, and nutritional values for each... Super easy to buy bulk and mix your own http://www2.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Nutrition.html

 

[gdgress]

I like toilet paper and toast too. fresh bread daily was wonderful--toasted not burnt is better. corn cobs were great when fresh but rough after a few rains and a freeze.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I like toilet paper and toast too. fresh bread daily was wonderful--toasted not burnt is better. corn cobs were great when fresh but rough after a few rains and a freeze.

I have gone the corn cob route myself. Let me cue you city slickers in on how to substitute a corn cob for a fist full of Northern. First you need a supply of corn cobs, fresh dry red ones are the most gentle on tender neither regions. Employ a red cob or two in place of your usual Charmin or Northern bathroom room tissue. Really bear down like you were trying to file an edge onto your chopping hoe. Then wipe with a white cob to determine if you need to employ anymore red corn cobs. Repeat until you are satisfied with the results.

 

[shortgrass]

         

I have gone the corn cob route myself.  Let me cue you city slickers in on how to substitute a corn cob for a fist full of Northern.  First you need a supply of corn cobs, fresh dry red ones are the most gentle on tender neither regions.  Employ a red cob or two in place of your usual Charmin or Northern bathroom room tissue.  Really bear down like you were trying to file an edge onto your chopping hoe.  Then wipe with a white cob to determine if you need to employ anymore red corn cobs.  Repeat until you are satisfied with the results.  

ROFL I was waiting for someone else to add to that hahaha

I'm too modest....but I prefer the fresh green husks over dry cobs... But I would think that what my grandparents were probably thinking about in the middle of winter..."oh, how I wish I had a fresh green husks..."

Hahaha too funny

 

[chickengeorgeto]

ROFL I was waiting for someone else to add to that hahaha

I'm too modest....but I prefer the fresh green husks over dry cobs... But I would think that what my grandparents were probably thinking about in the middle of winter..."oh, how I wish I had a fresh green husks..."

Hahaha too funny

I preferred the biyearly 'Monkey' or Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck catalogs myself. The special or sales catalogs were too, let us say colorful and slick to substitute well for toile.... uh, sanitary paper, but let it be known that if you crumpled and re-crumpled the pages of the Christmas catalogs a few times they became more 'serviceable'. I am now wondering if wiping with GMO corn cobs is considered sustainable or organic?

 

[shortgrass]

I preferred the biyearly 'Monkey' or Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck catalogs myself.  The special or sales catalogs were too, let us say colorful and slick to substitute well for toile.... uh, sanitary paper, but let it be known that if you crumpled and re-crumpled the pages of the Christmas catalogs a few times they became more 'serviceable'.  I am now wondering if wiping with GMO corn cobs is considered sustainable or organic?  

Lol it IS sustainable ...I'd stick with organic, never know WHAT is in that GMO CP ( cob paper) hahaha

But really, ever notice how green and lush the yard is where the outhouse used to sit? I say, more greens for the chickens so win/win ha-ha!

(Do you think sears used that as a bonus advertising technique? They knew you were going to be looking at those pages repeatedly getting them to a nice crumple ha-ha)

 

[curtisbirds]

I don't know about the corn cob thing just call me tender lol, but I do know that where my mechanical over flow pipe let's out you can't keep the over growth down.

 

[Independence]

Now I try to buy the best food, use PDZ on the poop board and we just installed ridge vents on the coop. They have a fan that runs all day inside the coop due to the heat here in south Texas. They have a mist system under the trees in the backyard to keep them cool. Inside their coop they have tin pictures and curtains on the nest boxes. It use to be so simple, lol.

If I were in Texas I would skip the poop boards and go with the deep litter system. I have gone that route and never looked back. Not only is the odor and maintenence (eliminated?) reduced but it provides excellent compost and a scratching zone for the chickens. I learned of the trick from Harvey Ussery in his excellent chicken book.

Indy

 

[pfields]

I did the deep liter method with my first chickens a long time ago because their coop floor was the ground. Both of my coops now have floors, one concrete and one wood and I already have the poop boards built under the roost/nests. I would love to have the roost over a dirt floor!