Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[triplepurpose]

I also wanted to share some other relevant links.

The first discusses the Korean Natural Farming method of feeding, which I find interesting and which my own current approach is based on:

http://kimcschang.blogspot.com/2010/11/natural-farming-chicken-feed.html

The second is an article by Harvey Ussery that I found particularly insightful and useful (he always writes great articles):

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-1.html

Enjoy!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
What is EM?

I keep layer feed out as free choice right now but am working towards feeding my chickens from my yard as close to 100% as I can get. I live in a small town and have a large yard for in town, but am limited by the yard / town thing, I can't grow an acre of alfalfa or anything like that, and will always have to buy my grains like boss, and oats.

I will start w/ the things I already do, I feed them out of my garden, during the main growing season they get all the types of veggies that I plant (the buggy, deformed, old when I get behind on putting up, or exess that I can no longer use, or the veggies that we don't like but are able to grow well here so I plant specifically for them mostly strong tasting greens). Tried okra for that this year and they absolutely refused to eat it in any way, I tried cutting it up, cooking it, mixing it w/ stuff they liked nothing worked, and kept at it for weeks thinking they would get used to it, but no so won't plant a lot of that again. I also have been able to keep some greens and roots going much longer into the winter then I thought I could they have been eating greens (mustard, spinach, turnip, and roots radish and turnips) this entire winter so far, I will expand that next year plant more of those and add collards and kale. I mix these w/ the extra pears I still have that are to far gone for us, and apple cider vinegar, some boss and recently tried adding a little calf manna. I sprout and / or ferment oats depending on the season, I ususally don't sprout the oats until I run out of greens for them so this year I haven't started sprouting them yet they are still getting the fermented oats. I raise feeder insects right now I have a large colony of dubia roaches that I can actively feed out they get about 250 per week for 20 chickens. I want to grow my colony to feed out about 300 / day (and double or triple my chickens). I have started a meal worm colony, but it is only a few months old so haven't reached the feed out stage yet.

Now for what I'm planning already mentioned the additional garden items. I tried black soldier fly larva last year and didn't succeed, so I am going to try it again, but this time put the bucket in the run and let the larva crawl out of the bucket directly in the run, not try and collect them, but let the chickens find and eat them on there own. I also intend to grow duckweed, something I was going to do this past year but got behind on. I am also concidering putting in a yard pond thinking around the size of 10' x 10' x 5', maybe a little bigger and grow goldfish to harvest to feed the chickens extra animal protien. I also have a whole garden / chicken run set up already, but I intend to add fruit trees along the edges so the chickens can eat all the dropped fruit and we can eat all the good fruit, along w/ the fruit trees for us to eat from I intend to plant 2 (one at each end) everbearing mulberry trees just for the chickens to eat (and hopefully entice the wild birds away from my cherries.)

The stuff I'm already doing is making a difference in the amount of layer feed my girls eat vs others in my area (from my state thread) and they look healthy and lay well (well not so much this minute they are just now post molt)

 

[OkChickens]

I do not have a lot to feed from home but I feed 16-18% Pellets free choice. I trade free range eggs at our Farmers Market for bruised or unsaleable fruits and veggies and I am starting up a Meal worm Colony to feed my chicks. Meal worms have about 20% protein and my chickens love them! My Rsl Egg Layers also get the kitchen scraps sometimes. I want to start a garden but I do not have time in the spring and summer due to my job.

Nate

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
Sorry, EM is the shorthand for "effective microorganisms." It's a commercial preparation that has a number of cultured strains of beneficial microbes. It has a bewildering array of uses: some people use it for composting, apply it to soil and/or plants, use it in livestock feed or water, to keep septic systems clean, to clean bathrooms, etc. Similar concoctions can be made by anyone though--the Korean Natural Farming system I mentioned above earlier uses a home-made preparation called IMO 4 (indigenous microorganisms, step 4 of the culturing process). They use it for all sorts of similar things, not only in the poultry feed.

It sounds like you've got lots of good projects in the works--the duckweed and the larvae, in particular, don't take up much space, and having a good protein source is a BIG element in reducing commercial feed use. Anyway, we all do what we can!

Good luck!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Sorry, EM is the shorthand for "effective microorganisms." It's a commercial preparation that has a number of cultured strains of beneficial microbes. It has a bewildering array of uses: some people use it for composting, apply it to soil and/or plants, use it in livestock feed or water, to keep septic systems clean, to clean bathrooms, etc. Similar concoctions can be made by anyone though--the Korean Natural Farming system I mentioned above earlier uses a home-made preparation called IMO 4 (indigenous microorganisms, step 4 of the culturing process). They use it for all sorts of similar things, not only in the poultry feed.

It sounds like you've got lots of good projects in the works--the duckweed and the larvae, in particular, don't take up much space, and having a good protein source is a BIG element in reducing commercial feed use. Anyway, we all do what we can!

Good luck!

I read the Korean site you posted, they use chicken manure for the "probiotic" if I read it right. I found most interesting the early more "natural" food causing the chicks to grow longer healthier alimentary systems. I was wondering (since they achieved that w/ food stuffs we don't have) if something similar happens w/ chicks that are raised basically free ranging here w/o the starter food. The other site you posted was way out of my price range for food, I'm sure it was very healthy and all, but not just the price but getting all the different bags O' stuff and mixing was just more work then I wanted and to pricey. I am more interested in what I can grow in my yard to feed my girls healthy chicken food (not ness human treats) to cut back on packaged food, I would have to get much more comfortable w/ chicken nutrition to ever just give up the layer food entirely.

 

[Alabama ee]

I still feed commerical feed, but I add a great deal. Over time, I am feeding les and less of the commerical feed. I don't feed any oyster shell. In the summer, the chickens get the greatest variety. Fresh cut grass from the lawn(we don't add anything to our lawn) In the summer, we also give them vegetables from the garden that might be too bug ridden. I give them fruit when it ripens. Year round, we keep a bowl that we add all the table scraps, spent coffee grounds, and egg shells that we give them. One of the things that has seemed to really help all through out the year is that we give them fresh fish every day. I have a trap that catches small brim. I put in under the dock and the fish swim in. Every day, it has 8-10 or so 2-3 inch brim. I throw them in live. They love the fish. I think adding the fish has really helped keep their shell quality good, and the protein seems to keep them very productive. Some of mine are 3 year old chickens that still each lay an egg almost every day. Even now that it is winter, I am getting 6 or so eggs a day from 13 chickens. The hens all look healthy, and have eggs with REALLY hard shells.

 

[maggiec1951]

Quote:
This is off topic a bit and I promise not to do it again, but I see that you keep bees. My dad used to have bees but the chickens would eat so many of them that he was constantly replenishing. Do you have a problem with that?
Again, I apologize but curiosity got the best of me.

 

[DMRippy]

This is great! Keep the ideas coming! I use spent grains about 40% or so in my feed to cut costs. I too have a mealworm farm but not enough yet to even feed the chicks

maybe in about 2 years I can start feeding the 125+ chickens I have a weekly diet of worms. This duckweed has me intrigued. Sounds like a couple of old hot tubs might hold enough to feed my little flock daily or every other day anyway. Where does one acquire this duckweed, a store that sells pond plants?

Mixing my own grains is too much to worry with. Adding what they would normally eat makes sense to me. Bugs and greens. I was planning a chicken garden with greens of all sorts. they already get the leftovers from the summer garden. My neighbor has a plot still with turnips I can raid as needed. I really need to go raid it too.....

(I don't eat okra either and I have a hard time giving it away when I grow it... just a thought have you tried the burgundy okra maybe it is a visual thing with them.)

 

[Kassaundra]

I had not tried the burgandy, this was my first year ever to grow it, I'm not an okra eater, so had never grown it before. I don't think it is a color thing though, they eat other green stuff I put in for them. They would have happily eaten the seeds if I cared to shell all the okra for them, which I wasn't about to do, I did cut the pods long wise hoping they would eat the seeds out by them selves, which they did not.

It is high in B vits and micro nutrients that would be great for them, I got them from Meyers Hatchery, so I kept tellling myself they aren't southern chickens that's why they won't eat the okra.

Oh and the web sites will say you can buy duckweed from pond supply stores, don't believe them, I asked at every pond supply store in a 100 mile radius of my home and most of them actually found the question offensive!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously. You can buy it online, or raid a local pond that has some.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:

oh... maybe an add on craigslist wanted weeds