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.
Oops, that article you refer to I now realize I posted by mistake. Here is the article by Ussery about feed that I actually MEANT to post:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Growing-Poultry-Feeds-1.html.
Yes, the chicken manure (or IMO-composted litter, to be precise) element is part of the KNF formula. I haven't been able to find much info on that, but I suspect it may also have something to do with immune function (including coccidiosis?) as well as digestive health. I figure mine are eating off of and consuming part of the litter, anyway. The early grooming of the chicks for a high fiber diet appears to be a big part of what makes it all work so well--they wind up able to make much better use of natural foods from the start. Never underestimate the adaptive powers of nature! I plan to try some things along that line with the next batch of chicks. In Korea they use bamboo leaves, but I don't see why you couldn't use some other fibrous and nutritious grass--it's all about adapting the system to your location--they only happen to use those things because that's what's readily available in the Korea countryside. And brown rice is pretty cheap anywhere, and you don't need a lot of it, because you only need to feed it for a short time. Anyway, I agree, very interesting stuff. You'll notice too, text-book Korean Natural Farming does still make use of layer feed for about 30% of the feed mix, so it's hardly a complete replacement--more of an improvement on it.
