Free Treats To Stretch Your Budget.

[gsim]

I recently answered an ad on Craigslist where a guy had 7 gallons of frozen crab apples (from a flowering crab tree). He had gotten them from a neighbor with the intention of making crab apple wine. He decided against it after finding out how much work is involved and offered to give them away on Craigslist.

My chooks like them. I thaw out a bag every few days and mix in with leftovers for their two daily treats. I figured to share that with all BYC members as a way to have free treats for wintertime for their flocks. I had never thought of that before until I spotted that ad on Craigslist.

So, any of you who have a crabapple tree or have a neighbor or relative who does, you can gather up free treats for wintertime or for autumn when they fall. This should help anyone stretch their budget plus offer a bit more variety of treats to their chooks.

Another thing you can do is ask around at your church for apples or carrots going soft, wilted celery, lettuce, cabbage, etc etc. We have a family that brings us apple peels, lettuce, etc every Sunday. They give us egg cartons too. In summertime, I do not need anything from anyone because I have a sizeable garden and my chooks get fresh produce daily.

Gerry

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have been doing this for many years. It's a way of life for me. Here is a list of some of the things that I get to help with my budget.

1. I get FREE bread and treats at the bread store.

2. I get FREE fruits and vegetables from my neighbor who owns his own business in which he sells (fruits and vegetables). All of the bruised fruits and vegetables that he doesn't sell for that day, he drops them off to me.

3. Friends and co-workers bring me their expired/outdated/bruised fruits and vegetables that are still good to feed my flock.

4. I pick up FREE bruised fruit and vegetables from local stores.

5. Any leftovers from breakfast, lunch and dinner is fed back to my flock.

6. At work (we clean the fridge out weekly), I get the weekly leftovers (rice/vegetables, fruit/bread/pasta) in the company fridge. That food is fed back to my flock.

I have about 500 egg cartons in my garage right now. I get free egg cartons from Craigslist, Free-Cycle, family, friends and co-workers. I will be bringing a lot of them to the Louisiana Poultry Expo to share with a few BYC'ers.

There are several threads on BYC about stretching your budget. A lot of good ideas there. If you're interested, you may want to do a search and find them. You can also log on to http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/. A lot of good info over there as well.

 

[gsim]

I tried asking at three grocery stores here and no one will give anything away at all. I was clear that it was for our chickens. One store told me that a local food bank takes it all away. Likely they are too far from me for it to be practical for me to pick up wilted stuff.

I need nothing in summertime at all because I always overplant so there is always a surplus of fresh veggies. I keep trying to find other sources for wintertime tho.


Gerry