Growing fodder for chickens

[MarineCorpFarmr]

I also had looked into mice, it seemed like more work and space then I was wanting to do and you still have the food issue, pregnant and nursing rodents need quite a bit of nutrition, bedding needs to be changed very regularly, they need seperate living quarters (think 3-5 gall buckets one for each female)

I have not been as happy w/ mealies my colony hasn't been to successful, but they require much less in living accomodations then dubias.

Dubias are super easy and the colony gets big enough to feed out sooner, however they require 80ish degree temps year round. Any insect colony used as total protien for a flock of any size will need to be seriously large, anytime you have such large colonies of ANY insect there will be odors, I don't care what nonsense you read online about no odor, they are lying. I am happy w/ my dubia colony and use it as treats, but I have had a colony almost 2 years and I couldn't use it as total protien. My colony is now in a remodeled chest type freezer w/ a red heat light linked to a thermostat.

Eh you can get breeding down to a science in a few 10 gallon tanks. If you get all your mice at once, they will fight it out before the babies start coming and the females will feed the different litters.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

http://tuckermilling.com/

You could call them and find out where you can get it close to you.

Tucker is right down the road from me. Im not sure how far they ship tho to be honest. Most of their products tent to stay semi local. Faithway feed is also in the same general area. My feed all feed is a ground mix of seed and feed from both companies along with some additions, but my whole corn, swine chow and 5way scratch is all from tucker

bad link rippy
http://www.tuckermilling.com/

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: They are all over TN and I think in KY. The person requesting the link was in AR so I thought that was close and they might could get it too.

Thanks for fixing the link, I copied that direct from my browser

 

[RoyalPayne]

Read the Mother article about formulating and mixing your own chicken feed. Around the bottom of the list, there appeared meat scraps. And steamed bone meal. So, I was wondering if what I do with chicken carcasses would replace scraps and bone meal. When ever I have cooked one of my raised chickens, the leftovers are frozen untill I have two or three gallon bags. These are then cooked untill all the bones are soft. Even the leg and wing bones. All are then ground in my 15 year old food processer until they are a paste. That paste is then frozen, and fed to the chickens 5 or 6 'biscuits' a week or so. Don't know what percentage would be meat scraps, and what would bone meal. Just wondering if it would be enough to leave out the steamed meal and scraps suggested in the Mother article. The chickens are fed non GMO corn feed from my local Amish feed mill. And the veggie scraps are from my non-chemical garden. Any feedback?

 

[pawtraitart]

Read the Mother article about formulating and mixing your own chicken feed. Around the bottom of the list, there appeared meat scraps. And steamed bone meal. So, I was wondering if what I do with chicken carcasses would replace scraps and bone meal. When ever I have cooked one of my raised chickens, the leftovers are frozen untill I have two or three gallon bags. These are then cooked untill all the bones are soft. Even the leg and wing bones. All are then ground in my 15 year old food processer until they are a paste. That paste is then frozen, and fed to the chickens 5 or 6 'biscuits' a week or so. Don't know what percentage would be meat scraps, and what would bone meal. Just wondering if it would be enough to leave out the steamed meal and scraps suggested in the Mother article. The chickens are fed non GMO corn feed from my local Amish feed mill. And the veggie scraps are from my non-chemical garden. Any feedback?

I think that if the bones are fully cooked down (sterilized) then it would be fine. The question would be....what is the protein value of ground chicken bones? I'm thinking that it averages around 50%, but that's just a guess. If that's the case....then that would indeed be a sustainable protein source.

What is your cooking technique to get the bones soft enough to grind?

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

They are all over TN and I think in KY. The person requesting the link was in AR so I thought that was close and they might could get it too.

Thanks for fixing the link, I copied that direct from my browser

No prob. I knew they did ship to tn but I didnt know they went further. Its nice for me they are 15 miles from the house so feed runs are pretty cheap on the ol fuel tank.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Here's something I found regarding goldfish and minnows. (This is in regards to feeding fish to predator fish, but some of the info may apply)




And here's what they say about livebearers such as guppies, platys, etc:

Can I ask where you found this information?

 

[mg15]

Someone asked for a link to the sprouting thread here it is https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/425134/anybody-raise-sprouts-to-feed-the-chickens

This thread concentrates on sprouting rather then growing to fodder size.

Hi, you said fodder size.
What exactly is fodder size ?
Thanks.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Around 4" or so of green above the sprouted seeds.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

That would be growing it past the sprouting stage to where it grows out and greens up