Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[DMRippy]

So very intrigued by the innovation and the posts detailing everyone's ingenuity, I felt compelled to join the new backyard chickens and post my own experiences.

We/I decided to get chickens about a year ago and wanted to go organic as well as use up the scraps/compost that we were generating...seemed like a no-brainer.
About six months ago, we got a juicer. The pulp that comes out of that juicer is amazing as a supplement to the organic layer. It makes up a great 'oatmeal.' My girls jump over each other for the oatmeal.

Now that I have told all our friends that we feed them the juicer pulp; I get free pulp from them in exchange for eggs.

Additionally, I have tried the spent brewing mash route as well (another excuse to go to the brewery). However, most of the mash that I get is either wet, warm or both. So I have built a dryer out of a sheet of plywood and it works great in the summer and (longer) in the winter.

I would like to see that please! I use door screens and fans and have it set up in our shop. Hubby want to make a sentrafuge to get more water out so it will dry quicker. I will show you mine if you show me yours.....

the birds love it wet and warm. We are thinking about giving it strait to the roos we are growing to eat hoping it will bulk them up some.

 

[DMRippy]

Must get me one of those free hot tubs for this duck weed thing....

 

[dandydoodle]

Sorry, I don't have much to contribute just yet but, this is something I am very interested in. I would really prefer finding something healthy and chemical free for my birds to eat. I have been searching but, haven't had a whole lot of luck so far. Well other than the organic extremely expensive feed you can buy. That is just not economical but, at the same time I don't want my kids eating eggs from chicken that eat regular layer feed from a feed store.

So if I were to feed my chickens with table scraps how do I ensure they are getting all the vitamins they need? I had a problem when using feed from the feed store, of having babies born vitamin deficient. I do not want that to happen again. So how do I make sure I am feeding them enough and the right foods they need?

Thanks so much for any advice.

 

[Dragonfly11132]

u can make your own chicken feed, there are websites for it and how much to proportion certain things and such, i feed mine a wide variety of seeds and such, i posted further up if u want to see all i feed mine

 

[SouthDakotan]

I am intrigued by your compost run system. How is it working out for you? I noticed my chickens always head for the compost pile in my yard, if I let them out of their run; but I have trouble keeping them in my yard and not going to my neighbors. So I had to limit their "free range" access. But the idea of moving my compost to them never occurred to me! I already place my excess red worms into my compost heap in the spring, so they are there too for added protein for the chickens.

I'd love to hear how the duel system has worked out for you.

 

[upthecreek]

Your chickens are eating the Best !!!! congrats to You !!! i love it when people are so smart with their birds ,
Shannon

it's an ongoing experiment for me. In the spring of last year, I build a portable coop/run setup, with the run being 8x8 and covered. As the chickens destroyed the grass, I threw leaves, grass clippings, etc in there to make a deep litter mulch pile, kind of similar to the OPs "compost run" idea. It ends up being a great bug farm.

About every six weeks, I moved it to a new location, then surrounded the run area with a temporary fence and planted a mixture of field peas and buckwheat. Once the plants were well established, I moved the fence away and let the chickens got at it. I found that they'd generally graze the leaves for a while, then wander on to something else. It helps that they have a couple acres to forage in, much of it wooded. The buckwheat petered out in midsummer, but that's about when the peas started coming it. I picked a few pounds... shelled some to grind or sprout, and threw a few, unshelled, into the run. Kind of fun, watching a chicken bash a pea pod on the ground to get the peas out.

Once the peas started dying, I put the fence back and planted assorted greens in the same spot. Meanwhile, I've planted Austrian winter peas, fodder radishes, mangels, and more greens inside the fenced "real garden". I've been gathering greens for them in a "cut and come again" mode for a couple of months.

With the colder weather, I've left the run in place for several months, and it's become a spectacular bug farm.

Meanwhile, I've started raising meal worms, but that's going slowly, as the temperatures are suboptimal right now.

Plans for the spring include planting comfrey and amaranth.

edited to add:

A local brewery supplies me with spent grain, which I add to the primary feed, which is sprouted wheat, oats and peas (or lentils, depending) toppeds with fish meal and kelp.
In addition to the stuff planted where the run was, I plant clover everywhere, and have take to throwing excess veggie seeds anywhere I think they might grow.

And of course, nature has already provided us with tons of chickweed and dandelions.

And garden/kitchen scraps get thrown in the run as well.

 

[Tallulah Chicklet]

Thanks for starting this thread!

I am planning to grow yellowhorn and siberian peas along the run this coming year (my neighbor's bees will enjoy the flowers!) and will try to grow some duckweed in buckets or barrels. I was going to check the local water supply pond for duckweed. Is it really necessary to "sanitize" the duckweed?

I like the idea of gathering microbes a la the Korean Natural Farming Method, but I am wondering if I could brew them up in the way that I make actively aerated compost tea (AACT). Has anybody here actually done the microbe gathering?

 

[Clay Mudd]

Your chickens are eating the Best !!!! congrats to You !!! i love it when people are so smart with their birds ,
Shannon

I love it when people give me great ideas I can steal!

 

[triplepurpose]

I believe that the duckweed in question is Lemna minor L aka lesser duckweed". It is found globally and grows well as mentioned. Here in Michigan, it grows in my pond during season and will cover the surface in just a few weeks. It is good as a feed suppliment.
Factoid: Lemna minor L. is the world's smallest flowering plant. (Sorry for rambling, these plants have been a big part of my master's work.)


The Azollaceae you describe is typically called "mosquito fern" and grows under similar conditions as Lemna but is quite a bit larger.


Thanks for the clarification.

 

[triplepurpose]

Sorry, I don't have much to contribute just yet but, this is something I am very interested in. I would really prefer finding something healthy and chemical free for my birds to eat. I have been searching but, haven't had a whole lot of luck so far. Well other than the organic extremely expensive feed you can buy. That is just not economical but, at the same time I don't want my kids eating eggs from chicken that eat regular layer feed from a feed store.

So if I were to feed my chickens with table scraps how do I ensure they are getting all the vitamins they need? I had a problem when using feed from the feed store, of having babies born vitamin deficient. I do not want that to happen again. So how do I make sure I am feeding them enough and the right foods they need?

Thanks so much for any advice.

In a nutshell, I think the key to having them get enough of the necessary nutrients in a home feeding situation is providing diveresity in your feed mix. Even limited free range or pasturing can help too in this regard. Table scraps alone most likely won't cut it, although they are a good resource.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the major nutrients to watch are protein and calcium (for layers). Protein is the hardest thing to come up with IME but calcium is easy--oyster shell is cheap and can be provided free choice. And of course, seeing that they are getting enough calories for energy. Diversity and variety of whole foods should take care of the rest.

I buy the that "extremely expensive Organic feed,"

but it only supplies a quarter to a third the bulk of their feed, so it's not really so expensive after all...

u can make your own chicken feed, there are websites for it and how much to proportion certain things and such, i feed mine a wide variety of seeds and such, i posted further up if u want to see all i feed mine

Unfortunately, purchasing the grain to make your own grain based feeds doesn't really save you money. Usually it costs a bit more--although at least the quality is not in question... But there's no rule that says that chickens have to eat grain--only that historically it's been one of the most convenient feed resources for farmers raising chickens who also grew grain.