Going 100% home-fed! Need all the help I can get!

[WoodlandWoman]

Soy and other beans can also just be boiled, instead of roasted.

I wouldn't be looking at grains to boost protein, because the amino acid profile is lacking. I'd focus more on legumes that complement grains and animal protein, fish, worms and bugs that are more complete proteins.

The red worms used for composting can also be fed to chickens. Vermiculture or vermicomposting is very popular and easy to do.

Some of what you're looking for, like the heat treated soy and mineral mixes, can be found at feed mills. There is also fish meal available that can be added, for additional protein. http://www.fertrell.com/poultry.html

I would definitely keep oyster shell available at all times. Egg shells can be baked and then crushed, before being offered. I think the baking makes them safer for storage.

Your chickens would be getting a lot of vitamins and minerals from all the different fresh foods you are planning to feed. I'm not sure how much supplementing you'd really need to do. It's different if they're only getting a grain based food with some soy in it. That's why those types of feeds need a vitamin and mineral mix added. Calcium would be needed in a larger amount than what is in many of the fresh foods, depending on what you feed, but that's what the oyster shell is for.

Foods to stay away from that are safe for us to eat are chocolate, avocado and anything with caffeine.

 

[Skip]

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Thank you for all your advice!

The link is good, but I'm looking for Organic. Sorry I didn't mention it before... Silly me.

How long should I bake the shells? Does baking reduce calcium content? How long do they keep?

Red worms... Are those the little pink ones I find in my garden? Can you use other kinds of worms for vermicomposting, or whatever it's called? How do you do it?

 

[chickbliss7]

You can get crickets to raise from the feed store. I didn't want to hassle raising them after buying 300, so threw them all into the pen yesterday. They ate them all in a flash, and now seem to be holding out for a repeat performance. So, I don't recommend doing this regularly. I don't give them "meat," other than insects. Other than their layer feed, I give them plain yogurt and cottage cheese. Nothing with sugar and salt (other than what's in the cottage cheese). Cheese is binding, at least in humans, so why not in chickens? You won't want constipated chickens, so take it easy on the cheese.

 

[Southernbelle]

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I don't even bake mine - I don't like the smell of baking eggs. I just leave them sit on the counter overnight and it dries up the membrane and leftover egg white. When they're dry (or baked) it makes them easier to crush. Crushing keeps them from looking like eggs, so they don't make the connection.

I usually feed the eggshells sprinkled on the kitchen scraps. As I use an egg, I let it dry out and crush it up. They eat it right away, so I don't know how long they keep.

I wouldn't think baking would reduce calcium content, since calcium is a mineral, but I don't have any hard facts to back that up.

Good luck with your feeding!

 

[cointoss]

My chickens are fed cracked corn with a bit of dried nettles and alfafa in the feeder. They get table scraps, but no meat, cheese, or potatoes. They free range in the yard almost every day and get their protein there, the natural way. They lay every day, even most of the winter. In the winter when the ground is frozen and the bugs are scarce, I give them extra protein in the form of beans (cooked leftovers) and dried field peas (better known as split peas, straight from the Goya bag) and toasted soy nuts.

Don't worry too much -- you are doing the right things, it looks like. And you can be happy knowing that you are not contributing arsenic compounds or toxic additives to the ground water table. Even many organic feeds contain a form of B-vitamin which turns toxic when it is excreted and hits ground water.

 

[SilverSage]

My chickens get a mix of corn, barley, oats and wheat. Any or all depending on what is available. They also get any leftover milk from the goats and any leftover milk products, kefir, messed up cheese, whey from cheese, etc. Also so scraps. Over the summer, they are on their own, and they do awesome! All the grasshoppers they can eat and then some, plus all the weeds and such. I bake my eggshell and crush it in the blender, then I just mix some up with the scraps they eat. I just stick them in the oven at 350 or so until I smell them. As for too much meat, I don't think so. I was given a downer cow this last fall for dog food. The hindquarters were badly bruised, so I just skinned them and left them outside for all to eat. The chickens worked on them for a couple of weeks. Their feathers never looked better! ( This was around molting time.) I'd say that if you chickens look good and are laying well, whatever you are doing is working well. If something isn't right with mine, laying is the first thing to be affected.

 

[KellyandKatie]

I am sure you know how to raise mealworms - here is a linky
http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm

Did you see these posts
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Growing-Poultry-Feeds-1.html
lots of links off of those, and there was another thread here by... Kim Wolf I think...

 

[Skip]

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Thank you for all your helpful posts, everyone, and thanks to you, KellyandKatie, for the links! They were EXTREMELY helpful.