Feeding your flock amidst of feed shortages

[saysfaa]

I have also been very concerned about losing my feed supply. I did buy an extra bag. So meat is a good protein source for chickens? I assume it should be cooked? My DH just shot a deer. Would venison scrap be a good source?

My opinion:
Yes. I would cut most of the fat off.

I don't think it needs to be, maybe depending on the source.

Yes.

 

[saysfaa]

how about soaking the grain mix in milk? Any thoughts?

Why?

 

[saysfaa]

Clobber is more digestible by chickens than milk. I've been looking for more information on this and haven't found much yet. I haven't looked really seriously.

https://books.google.com/books?id=M...page&q=studies on giving poultry milk&f=false

 

[NatJ]

I guess you want to use milk because of the calcium.

I think the milk is wanted more for protein than calcium.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My late MIL said pasteurized milk won't clabber; if you leave today's milk out, she said, it just sours (spoils). Being a child of a more modern age, I have no idea what clabbered milk is or why that made her so sad.

 

[Cooptown Lady]

Yes. Not LET it. Why do you think the supply of truckers have been short for the past 15 years and so extremely short the past year? Why is product floating in the Atlantic instead of being grown in Georgia, woven in Massachusetts, and sewn in North Carolina or, if we don't know (or care enough) about the unintended consequences of importing on this scale then why is product floating in the Atlantic instead of flowing through the distribution system? ... why is there a container shortage... why haven't they been unloaded in the distribution centers... ... ... choices we make.

It's not a lack of trucks (not up-to-date on truckers quitting due to mandates) that is the problem. California passed regulations which ended up prohibiting trucks over three years old from driving their loads through the state (that isn't the reg, it's the effect of the modifications required.) This has caused the bottleneck. Other causes exist but I've written enough on that topic . . . .

Anyway.... I don't have a good answer for feeding chickens when the shelves are bare, other than feeding my leftovers. When I'm forced to ration my own food, which I can see happening the way things are going, even leftovers will not be enough.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Chickens can digest yogurt though, right? And buttermilk?

 

[Regina Larsen]

Chickens can digest yogurt though, right? And buttermilk?

I started all my birds on crumble with a small spoonful of plain yogurt in it. Poops were always fine and they loved it.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I started all my birds on crumble with a small spoonful of plain yogurt in it. Poops were always fine and they loved it.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[saysfaa]

Chickens can digest yogurt though, right? And buttermilk?

I don't know how to quote both of your posts.

Your grandmas is right. Pasteurized milk won't clabber because the enzymes and lactic acid bacteria are killed off along with the harmful microbes. In raw milk, the enzymes and lactic acid bacteria kill the harmful microbes and mold. Theoretically, you could add some back but I don't this that is realistic for people who don't have a cow.

Yogurt and buttermilk are also cultured/fermented which is what processes the lactose so I think so. I'm not sure today's version is as beneficial as what people fed during the great depression because today's versions are made by adding a few strains of lactic acid bacteria back into the milk. Not all the beneficial things are added back in.

Yogurt varies a lot in how much lactose it contains, so maybe not all of it is. And, of course, use plain yogurt.