Has anyone succesfully had chickens without feeding chicken food

[luvarabhorses]

The pumpkin idea is a great one. I've had to pay 50 cents a piece for the big ones but hopefully the local farmer will finally give in and give me the rest. They last a long time and help expel parasites through the seeds in the process.

 

[AHappychick]

didnt read the whole thread but I found my ducks being supper lazy (even though they have a pond with fish and plants and a 1/2 acre in which to forage. So I started feeding them late in the afternoon leaving their feed empty in the morning until then. Now they forage and get what ever extra they need at the end of the day. they are eating half of what the used to and are still the same weight.

I am also growing meal worms and collected all of the acorns I could find. If you can still find those they are a great protein source I learned it on one of the threads and did a bit of reasearch. Next year I will be collecting like crazy.

 

[dragonlair]

I have been feeding my hens goat milk for as long as I've had hens and goats (30 years or so). Why can't they have milk? It doesn't seem to hurt them any, the egg shells are nice and strong and the girls love it! Is there soemthing I should be aware of feeding them milk?

I have been in a major financial pinch and haev learned to feed my fur and feather babies "other" foods. Dry cat food is cheap in places so I add some cheap cat food to the hens feed in the winter, I just make sure the kibbles are small and rounded. I get that at the dollar store. Cheap canned cat and dog food works well too.

I feed them extra hard boiled eggs that I have left over after the dogs and I have our fill. They get table scraps, wind fall apples, left over veggies, oats, corn, horse and goat grain, "dead bread" from the bread outlet, and they get to free range off and on, depending on the dogs. (My poor new handsome roo was lunch for my dogs the other day. He flew right into the pen.) They love the manure pile and the horse pasture and are great at picking up the spilled goat grain. They will grub for maggots, flies, ticks and other assorted insects during the warm weather. They pick up weed seeds and such and bits of dried grass this time of year.

Hope things pick up for you!

 

[ice329]

Do you have space to grow some things... get some rye grass seed, red or white clover seed and maybe some alfalfa seed, its very reasonable from a farm type supply and get it in the ground. Rake it in good so the chickens cant get it even better keep them off it for a while. These thing grow threw the winter. If you can get it going at least you got something they can eat, then if you have a little money 7 bucks walmart or tractor supply usually carries scratch.. its not the best but the combo of the good grasses you get going and some scratch is better then nothing... if your really hurting and have space to grow and cant afford to buy seed PM me and I will send you some.

I have some good ryr, red and white clover, and alfalfa going, then they got weeds and everything else (bugs) etc they find. Yes I do leave feed out but they dont eat much of it, then as night is coming I throw no more then a 1/2 pound of scratch for them. So the free roamers really dont eat much... the few I have in the pen eat so much more its not even funny... I cant wait for them to get old enough so they can roam around.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I don't know how much space you have, but i concur with the free ranging. There is a rooster that lives unaided in the woods by my house. And he looks VERY healthy. Chickens know how to find food. They were made for it. So if you have a little land - any at all - i would let them free range several hours a day at least - and watch your need for feed go way way down.

 

[mistyfeather]

chickens were domesticated LONG befor comertial foods were being made . they domesticated and bred to live of human scraps. just like goats and pigs(yes pigs can forage) they can and will forage every thing! if they free range even better. one of my friends has been in the same tough spot they 20 birds her husband went on disability and she was suporting them on about 15-16 hrs a week at her job. they stoped buying comertial feed compleatly and her chickens were very healthy and happy, for a treat she would buy a cheep bag of millet at wall mart and mix it with powdered ceyane pepper (so the squerals would leave it alone) and her chickens would go absolutly nuts for it. the flock she has now does to, though they are much better off finantialy then they were she does not buy feed still with no problems.

 

[freemotion]

Reading through this there are a lot of great ideas. And some that are really not financially sound. So do some easy math before you buy "cheap" people food for them....if you can get a 50# bag of grain for $7.50, for example, that comes out to $0.15 per pound for food that is very good for them and not processed. If you can get a loaf of white bread for $0.50 on the reduced for quick sale rack and it is a huge loaf weighing two pounds, that is $0.25 per pound for something that essentially has no food value.

Be sure they get granite grit, not the oyster shell that is incorrectly labelled as grit, if they don't have access to sandy/rocky ground. Or go find a clean place to scoop some up. I actually scraped some up roadside one snowy winter when I could not find any good grit in any feed store here. I just rinsed it really well to get rid of the road chemicals, and now make sure I am going into winter with a full pail of grit.

 

[camillebug]

We gave some eggs to the produce manager at our local independent grocer. Now he gives us the bags of produce that they sort through every day and throw away. Last week we got a garbage bag that weighed about 50# with cabbage,celery,broccoli,peppers and all sorts of other stuff. We run it through the food processor and the chix love it. Can't beat the price.

 

[1hawaiian]

I realize this is an OLD THREAD.... But it's a SUPER thread...

I'm really happy to have found it as it addresses and confirms a lot of my interests as a noob here...

I brought it up again as it may help someone else new here too...

 

[galanie]

Thanks! I'm loving it. I ordered some "hulless oats" seeds from an heirloom seed company along with summer wheat and I'm going to give grain growing a whirl on my suburban lot. I don't have much of a lawn here in the back anyway and a big enough lot to fence off a section for it. Those claims I see of being able to supply yourself with wheat from "only 600 square feet" or whatever it was I read is about to get tested. And with chicken poo along with composted leaves for fertilizer, nothing else. Mind you, I don't intend for this to be a complete diet, but if it works I'll at least be able to cut back some on the feed bill.