Grow your own! (Food for chickens)

[Lancaster City Farmer]

Mine love zucchini I slice in half and they eat all the way to the skin,they get laer feed all they want as well.Also they tear up my strawberry beds when I am not looking.

 

[cybercat]

You can grow your own to supplment. Many grow sunflowers to help feed and for a fall crop kale is great. Grass clippings are good too as long as grass is free of chemicals.

 

[norcal]

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Mine love it too, they eat the whole thing. Now I notice it's not on the treats list. Is there a reason for this?? I think they like zukes better than cukes - crazies.

 

[mendogurl]

I try to grow as much as possible of the things listed on the treats list, and everyday I supplement their feed.
There diet ends up being probably 60% organic feed, and 40% organic home grown veggies.
There is a website somewhere with a recipe for home made feed. But my chickens are still on chic feed, so I won't use the home made until they start laying.

 

[PatS]

Mendogurl, I was just looking through the coop building thread and saw your garden. Wow! Amazing raised beds. Fabulous chicken house. You have done a lovely job and created a place of beauty.

Where do you get the organic feed?

I'm starting a little planting of buckwheat and some veggies, including some bolt-resistant lettuce, around the perimeter of our chickens' run. I bought some other grains from Bountiful Gardens that I can plant later this fall and in the spring. Since we started raising chickens to be a little more responsible about OUR food sources, it only seems logical to know where most of the chickens' food is coming from, too.

We're in rural Mendo. It has sure been hot here -- today is supposed to be the hottest day this week. Keep cool.

 

[mendogurl]

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Thanks you PatS. I am insanely proud of my little farm. I need to post new pics now that everything is completed and the veggies are starting to turn to jungle. I am going to put in planter boxes along the inside of the run and grow grass for the chickens, using mesh screens to keep them from getting at the roots. (an idea I got on this board).
I am trying to get them as many greens as possible. Having the run right next to my garden really helps. I am constantly tossing them greens and veggies.

Once I finish my fencing that encloses the whole garden, I will free range them when I am in the garden working.

Organic feed comes from My Pet Chicken.

 

[007Dawn]

Whatever veg's you grow in the garden give to them, we do and it cuts back on the cost of other things for us. There are things they won't eat like a radish but they will eat the tops. If you leave a few old cardboard boxes out and wet them, roaches will come and that is a good supply for them, and trust me the chickens will wipe them out clean.

You can also grow wheat, soybeans, berries, grapes, watermelons. start a worm bin (easier than you think), do a herb garden and keep it covered if you want to prosper it, chickens love mint. Or at least mine do.

We all love science here and we a worm bin for the vegtable garden but the chickens like that as well. We just scoup out a bunch now and then and throw them out there. If they survive they survive but seriously with chickens around not likely.

you can also breed meal worms and ugly worms (super worms), they are ugly and crunchy and like potatoe chips so don't feed them much.

For smaller yards there are still easy ways to do this. We have a raised table for the herb garden, (herbs can be grown indoors easily as well, and then you can plae other veggies like lettuce on the table instead, which also makes it easy for us to work off, underneath we store gardening supplies. We raised four beds and in additional to marigolds, which are good to eat in salads and high in vit C they repel a lot of bugs from the veggies, we then place in peppers with our flower beds, pretty to look at and you can store them in white vinger and keep darn well near forever. Chickens will eat them as well and they are good to spread around the coupes because certain predators don't like them.

Other flowers you can grow are panies in the winter time and they are ediable for people and chickens alike. There are tons of flowers that can be eaten that people use in their gardens for visual aspects but work great as food as well.

We also hang tomatoe plants form the patio, cherry tomatoes work the best.

Find a small place in the yard and throw some watermelon seeds, whtey will come up!Lot's of easy ways to grow treats for the babies.

 

[mendogurl]

What a wonderful amount of info you have, Dawn !!

The cardboard box idea is great. And I need to get going on that meal worm project. Going to the pet store and buying them is a waste of gas and too expensive for something I can do for pennies. I want to find more sources of protein aside from their feed.

I do companion planting in my garden for the benefit of the veggies, but I hadn't incorporated the chickens into it. I never thought about using marigolds as a pest control in the coop !!!! Makes perfect sense. I wonder if dried marigold would work?

I am trying to get them to eat more of my squash, which they are not too interested in, unless I shred it and toss it with yogurt.

Maybe chickens are like human children and their tastes develop as they get older.

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[citrusdreams]

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Just remember that a balanced diet is good for everyone

Chickens are omnivores and eat a whole bunch of stuff: mine love my leftovers, and my slightly bad veggies and fruits that didn't quite make it to the table. They love that leftover salad that usually doesn't turn out right after being in the fridge. They love stale bread. They love the scraps from cutting up veggies and coring fruit. They love cottage cheese and yogurt. Since you're trying to go au'natural, if you have a milk goat or cow, they love milk and they love clabber and whey. If you peel your carrots or apples, they'll love that. Mine love banana peels too. Just not potato peels or raw meats....well they devoured a dead snake once and loved every inch of it. But I don't provide them with raw meat from the fridge.

But I would keep their feeders full of that stuff you question

It's a healthy component to their diet. Maybe there are people here who put together their own and you can get advise from them and make your own too.

If you free range your chickens, they will have a wide variety of grasses and bugs to eat, along with the grain you feed them. Mine spend the day foraging over a few acres.

I don't grow my own, they've already destroyed enough vegetable gardens, so they are now exiled

 

[mendogurl]

Yes they are amazing little composters.
Every morning they get the leftover cereal and fruit leftover from breakfast, mixed with some extra milk. I keep the bread to a minimum because I read on the treat chart that they shouldn't get too much. But I give them all our leftovers, except our meat.

I have been sort of waiting on giving them eggs. Seems weird to me, but I read that eating eggs helps them not to eat their own.