Feeding your flock amidst of feed shortages

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Microgreens is another option for this thread to consider as well.

some people do stacks of fodder trays to make watering easier and take up less floor space.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...re-its-fodder-season-🍀.1429474/#post-23549565

This is a good thread about growing fodder. I grew some small trays of barley fodder last winter for my 4 chickens. I have 7 now, and will do it again this year.

While it was not a huge amount of food, it was some greens in a green-less time (where I live) and was "nutritainment."

If we can have infotainment on TV, the food that is also entertainment for chickens can have a name, right?
 
If we can have infotainment on TV, the food that is also entertainment for chickens can have a name, right?
It’s like “pick your own” operations for people food. Pay more, contribute labor, enjoy.

A chicken may enjoy the worm or bug they dig up/catch more just like people enjoy getting their hands dirty!
 
The book Kiki shared says "In formulating poultry diets, energy level is usually selected as the starting point. An appropriate energy level is one that most likely results in the lowest feed cost per unit of product (weight gain or eggs). The feed cost per unit of product, in turn, is determined by the cost per unit weight of diet and the amount of diet required to produce a unit of product. In areas of the world where high-energy grains and feed-grade fats are relatively inexpensive, high-energy diets are often most economical (i.e., the lowest feed cost per unit of product); however, if a leaner carcass is desired, it may be necessary to consider other levels of dietary energy. In areas where lower-energy grains and by-products are less expensive, low-energy diets are often most economical."

What if you don't start there? At a backyard level... like my five... it isn't about cost anyway. I'd been ruminating on how to use pumpkins because they are very abundant around here and easy to store for me. Carrots even more so. They don't fit well into grain based formulations but might they if you started with protein from meat, energy from fat, and bulk from vegetables. roots, and greens? If you start with what jungle fowl living in a jungle might eat, you wouldn't start with grain. It doesn't solve the trace minerals issues, of course.

I think I better make a calculator spreadsheet, this is getting interesting.
 
The book Kiki shared says "In formulating poultry diets, energy level is usually selected as the starting point. An appropriate energy level is one that most likely results in the lowest feed cost per unit of product (weight gain or eggs). The feed cost per unit of product, in turn, is determined by the cost per unit weight of diet and the amount of diet required to produce a unit of product. In areas of the world where high-energy grains and feed-grade fats are relatively inexpensive, high-energy diets are often most economical (i.e., the lowest feed cost per unit of product); however, if a leaner carcass is desired, it may be necessary to consider other levels of dietary energy. In areas where lower-energy grains and by-products are less expensive, low-energy diets are often most economical."

What if you don't start there? At a backyard level... like my five... it isn't about cost anyway. I'd been ruminating on how to use pumpkins because they are very abundant around here and easy to store for me. Carrots even more so. They don't fit well into grain based formulations but might they if you started with protein from meat, energy from fat, and bulk from vegetables. roots, and greens? If you start with what jungle fowl living in a jungle might eat, you wouldn't start with grain. It doesn't solve the trace minerals issues, of course.

I think I better make a calculator spreadsheet, this is getting interesting.
OK, two things. 'cause I've run across this myself.

One - its dang hard to get sources to offer general agreement on how much "energy" a bird needs, mostly, I can't get them to even agree on a unit of measure (something that was a problem even at the time of publication for Kiki's book link, getting most of a page of valued discussion. Things haven't improved.

Two - whether feeding a high energy diet or low, getting to the target profile in protein, fat, aminos, trace in the appropriate ratios is our goal Because raw cost is somewhat less concerning to us, the most "efficient" feed from an economics standpoint is often less important to backyard owners than the best feed profile from the available resources. Whatever we mix, its going to cost "too much" - that's a given. BUT! If you are taking advantage of the (relatively) ready availability in the US of things like dried soybean meal, fish meal, shrimp or crab meal, even "poultry by product meal", you are taking the nutrient dense approach.

Three - garden additions, if you can balance them, AND you have the right soils, hits most of those trace mineral issues pretty quick. The high moisture content and seasonal nature contributes to production of a low energy diet however (for good or ill).

That's more than two... Hmmm, puts down coffee cup. I was going somewhere with this.

Oh yeah. Ultimately, for most backyard owners, unless you are raising a "special case" like the CX eating itself to death (and quite happily, too!) by way of fatty liver disease and similar, chances are very good that you offer feed "ad libitum" or "free feeding", rather than my approach. In such a case, if the feed itself is balanced, the bird will eat as much (or as little) as it needs over the course of the day to meet its net energy needs, so "high energy" or "low energy" diet becomes (largely) irrelevant due to your choice of flock feed management style.

Focus on deliberate low energy diets for avian health reasons (usually to slow early growth and allow more robust skeletal development in fast growth meat breeds) has its place - but most BYC owners largely avoid that concern by not purchasing CX and similar birds to keep long term as "pets", and by processing for table before diet-related health issues become profoundly impairing for more than some insignificant portion of the flock.

I think that's what I meant to say. I NEED MORE COFFEE. Very best to all, I've got a lot of work to get done today. Won't be hanging out on forums much.

:caf
 
What should we switch to feeding the flock if shortages become even worst and there isn't any feed in your feed store? Mine are almost 3 month old but am thinking forward. Obviously, feeding what we have as leftovers. What did people feed their chickens back in the great depression?
I have a good sized garden; this week we are closing up 2 greenhouses this fall for year round use - mostly greens.
I loosely cultivate amaranth, lamb's quarter, chicory, sassafras, comfrey and burdock. Those get foraged by ducks and chickens. 31 tree orchard (little known fact, fresh peaches can turn back the evolutionary clock in chickens to BAM hungry dinosaurs) and a large number of berry plants feeds everyone something.
i can always get hay locally thank goodness.
The forage and cover cropping (Siberian peas) i grow translates to feed-able protein in the form of duck eggs. I cannot eat them (cant digest. My hub can).
The ducks are EXCELLENT foragers; a lot of value in the free ranging. I chose chickens who are good at it too.

The chickens get duck egg yolk, dog gets the whites. And we get chicken eggs.
I look at that as a good payoff, as those chicken eggs then provide high quality human food.
Why i will never be without ducks. My building block.
I can hunt rabbit on my own land and saltwater fishing is close by. Animal protein for the birds.
Next project is to sow some wheat (hard red spring i think) and oats to have on hand.
i am going to look into O2 absorbed 55g barrels for feed mixes. Never thought of doing that - i have plenty of other things stored that way, it makes perfect sense.
Cricket breeding is something i did long ago for reptiles - i love the idea of making a bug farm for my birds...
GREAT THREAD IDEA 😎
Mostly when i talk about this in RL ppl get glazed eyes or suddenly have to take a phone call.
 
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I am definitely keeping an eye on this issue too. Managing flock numbers is first on my list, I could raise more birds in the summer when green feeds and bugs are abundant but a lot fewer in winter when there are no bugs or greens. I have only 3 or 4 laying hens at this point because indoor space is limited in winter. I also find that a very small flock can be fed for not much more than the cost of buying eggs and with 4 good layers I can sell enough eggs to pay for all the feed. I am able to store a years supply in a drum with a small flock. My flock has been in a tractor improving my garden plots and next spring I will have some room to grow some forage crops. Wheat, sunflowers and clover have grown well in my climate so that’s my plan.
 
I am definitely keeping an eye on this issue too. Managing flock numbers is first on my list, I could raise more birds in the summer when green feeds and bugs are abundant but a lot fewer in winter when there are no bugs or greens. I have only 3 or 4 laying hens at this point because indoor space is limited in winter. I also find that a very small flock can be fed for not much more than the cost of buying eggs and with 4 good layers I can sell enough eggs to pay for all the feed. I am able to store a years supply in a drum with a small flock. My flock has been in a tractor improving my garden plots and next spring I will have some room to grow some forage crops. Wheat, sunflowers and clover have grown well in my climate so that’s my plan.
That's basically how I do it. I sell to one neighbor who pays enough to cover feed. I also get enough to store extra eggs during spring/summer using water-glass preservation to get me thru the winter.

I keep my egg layers for three years to keep good levels of production. My raised beds, berry bushes, fruit trees and yard greens provide a lot of forage and cover from predators.
 
Right now I'm experimenting with fermenting my chicken feed. Hopefully, this will increase the digestibility and stretch the food farther. I'd love to be growing fodder rotationally, as I can buy grains in bulk, but I have yet to get anything but a moldy mess.
My birds currently free-range from late afternoon to dark. I could let them out in the mornings and early afternoons as well, but I'd be likely to lose eggs to nests hidden in the woods then. My flocks (I have two separate flocks, one layer flock and one breeding flock) currently total about 70 birds, and that's no small number to feed if things get scarce. If I cannot get a commercial feed, I will have to rely on free-ranging, scraps from the garden, fermenting grains bought in bulk through a local co-op, possibly growing worms (though I can't say I'd enjoy that), and maybe reducing the size of my flock (culling all unnecessary roosters, keeping only the best layers, and hatching only as many chicks as I need to replenish my flock or can sell each year) to keep everyone in good health.
This year we've also raised our first turkeys (just plain white meat turkeys), to find out if raising a larger meat bird would work well for us. If we like the results, we plan to buy some heritage breed turkeys so we can maintain a flock longterm.
 

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