Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[Steemroo]

Yeah, it's all too high here, too. Let's hope we get a good corn crop next year and that it rains! Prices may drop ... except they're gonna tinker w/ the dollar more ... they probably won't drop.

That's good to know about turnips and beets. I'd forgotten about them - may have some old seeds that might still grow....

Oh, don't feed chickens raw dough, like I mentioned above - I meant to say look it up first (as I am) - some overmilled and processed grains and flours gum up chickens' crops (get stuck) and cause that plus maybe other problems. To be safe, read around - get many opinions before feeding anything weird or unfamiliar - and use common sense. Good luck.

 

[TTeddy]

TTeddy, Try pointing out the savings in cost of trash hauling to the manager of your local store(s) and offer to sign a waver that the food will not be used for human consumption.

I don't think the large retailers (Woolworths and Coles) would do it. It was Coles that stopped me from taking loose lettuce leaves for my guinea pig!
Maybe for the small fruit and vege sellers might, but I think they would keep it for themselves or family etc for their animals, i mean who wouldn't, you'd be crazy if you didn't!

Living out here in the country is limited

I have started to grow my own.
Started giving my ducklings corn, peas and carrot cooked and then I wiz them together, pop in a little cooked rice, a sprinkle of grit and then mixing that with their crumble and they LOVE it!
I tried just plain crumble dry by itself and they hardly touched it...they seem to prefer it a little damp and the moisture from the rice and vege's makes it just right.

 

[Steemroo]

Right, a lot of big stores won't allow it, even if you sign a waiver. They don't even give the "waste" food to starving people!

I bet employees in larger stores are NOT allowed to take it home, or they'd start setting aside non-blemished fruit, etc., (i.e. "stealing"). Management in many places doesn't let employees take home "waste" for this reason.

Good point - small markets - farmers' markets - these might work. True, they may keep some of it for their own consumption, but probably not all. I was thinking there might be ways to get scraps from an individual employee, even in a big store, (the green grocer, I think he's called) - sneakily. Now, more and more stores have cameras, blah blah blah. But if you can get one of the guys or gals in charge of maintaining the produce section to cut an under-the-table deal with you (like eggs for would-be tossed scraps, or just convince them to be nice) - it could be made to work. It's worth trying. Farmers - if they grow table veggies, a lot gets left in the field at harvest. In orchards, there's tons of waste, but a store's waste is far better because they have it coming in year round.

You'd think they'd like to lower their garbage bill by having us take their waste, wouldn't you?!

Welcome to the New Amerika! We're all slaves to lawyers and upper-level management and a one-size-fits all mentality - they could care less that we just want to take care of ourselves (why on earth would you??? just get Food Stamps if you're that hungry! join the borg!).

It's just gonna get worse. A lot worse. Unless we wake up and fight it. Growing our own may be the way to go.

(if your local grocery stores have Latino workers, and if you can speak at least some Spanish, try talking to them in Spanish - they will probably relate to you better, because you've made an effort to learn their language - and you can sometimes get them to say (in Spanish) a whole lot more about how the store really works (than they would have told you in English)! Or that's been my experience. It's just human nature)

 

[AnnieSullivan]

That is something I have no experience with, but I think that's a really important issue to raise! It's my personal feeling, based a little humble experience and research, that the nutrition is much less precise and demanding than we are often led to believe. For illustration, can you imagine if someone applied the same ideas of precision and "perfect balance of nutrition" to HUMAN nutritional guidelines? Imagine some food manufacturer telling people "Be warned! You should all only eat this specific, scientifically formulated ration, which contains EVERYTHING you need to survive and be healthy, and NOTHING else...OR ELSE BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN!!" They would appear utterly nuts, part of some conspiracy, or both!

But as to the science, I agree it's probably better to be over-informed and then take it from there than to be under-informed. Personally, I would also see if you can find any historical accounts about how people kept chickens through the winter in cold climates--you probably wouldn't find anything scientifically precise, but you might get some good ideas... just a thought...

This makes me think of "Soylent Green is people."

That being said, I agree with everything you said.

 

[Steemroo]

From what I've read, chickens 200 yrs ago (and further back) didn't lay much in the winter. Part was genetics - we hadn't yet bred the amazing layers that we use today, commercially (and at home - we have some white Leghorns in our yard now). Part was technology and knowledge - we didn't know that lighting the coop meant more eggs in the dark winter (and we didn't have good or cheap lighting then, anyway). Part was food quality: a chicken can't lay if its diet is missing elements or is too low in calories or protein (or calc.).

It was hard on farmers in cold areas back then, especially in the Middle Ages. In winter they often had to slaughter a lot of livestock for lack of feed, keeping just enough to breed again in the spring. Hard to feed your chickens wheat or oats if you're starving. Improvements in food production & storage (and fodder) meant being able to keep more animals alive over the winter - and a larger herd or flock the next year.

In the 1600s there was an agrarian revolution in much of Europe (but not France - part of why they had their revolution, ironically). Crop rotation, seed drills (the real Jethro Tull!), clover, and so on - food production soared compared to the past. Also new foods were tried (from all over the world) - maize - root crops that could be stored in root cellars or just in the fields - potatoes = more calories per acre compared to any grain, at least back then (may still be true now - also sweet potatoes are high in calorie per acre).

Still, even in the 1800s, we had low egg production in winter. Chickens had trouble foraging (snow, or when the snow was not on the ground, few bugs - maybe seeds or roots - maybe cold loving weeds). Also, as mentioned, genetics and things like lighting were still waiting to be worked out to the extent we have today (some breeds today, if well fed, don't even see winter as a speed bump - and I've read, don't even need coop lighting - but not sure about that).

If you're laying eggs for your family and have other sources of income, you can afford to try different stuff and risk missing eggs. If you're making a living off chickens, you can't afford many mistakes at all. Your margins are usually very tight. Lots of costs in agriculture. This is one of the reasons some people go for the hyper-nutrition, and it seems to work (a whole mess of "experts" back it up, too). That said, other ways are being made to work, too (organic, free range, etc. - but pasturing chickens in the snow? I kind of doubt it). Anyway, there are reasons farmers do what they do, even if it doesn't make sense to us (and even if there are long term costs). They continue to feed the nation (and a lot of the world) - I've lived in other countries besides the US (food can be insanely expensive in other parts of the world!). We should be thankful.

I hear you, though, when people say "you must feed this or that" - it may not always be right. I'd look at it this way: I think chickens evolved to eat a varied diet mainly of bugs, forbs (weeds and young plants), and seeds - and little animals - and maybe some scavenging (many non-dedicated scavenging animals will scavenge if the opportunity presents). There's also "they can survive on this" versus "an optimal diet for growth, health and egg production (or meat growth)." All stuff to keep in mind. Good luck figuring it out!

 

[chickenbusiness]

This is a wonderful thread. Thank you!

 

[chickenbusiness]

All of the information on how to feed chickens is very interesting. If we could cut money from our feed bill that would be a blessing.

 

[Kassaundra]

Here is a video of how I sprout grains for the chickens for green feed in the winter, very cost effective very healthy food

 

[aggiemae]

Just a comment, I pick up trim and waste from Safeway, which is certainly a large chain. They even pull the organic stuff for me. Have a waver ready for the store manager (just in case) and try approching the produce manager as thought he is going to say yes.

I also get the spent coffee from a couple of coffee shops by proving five gallon buckets that I picked up every morning. It's great mulch but NOT safe for chickens so we only use it in the front gardens.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Gotta move this thread up! It was on the third page! Sheesh!