Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[aghiowa]

This thread has my mind buzzing with ideas... My mother-in-law works at a cereal plant, and gets free oatmeal (steel cut and rolled mostly). She recently gave me a large bag of oatmeal & nut mix. I'm thinking the chooks will enjoy that. I also have a small pond with a pump in it that goes to a waterfall/stream. If I raise duckweed, do you think I'll have a problem with the pump, or is duckweed only a surface plant?

Thanks!
Angela

 

[dsljim]

Has anyone tried feeding baleage ( plastic wrapped round bales) ? I know they gobble up corn sileage.

 

[Kassaundra]

This thread has my mind buzzing with ideas... My mother-in-law works at a cereal plant, and gets free oatmeal (steel cut and rolled mostly). She recently gave me a large bag of oatmeal & nut mix. I'm thinking the chooks will enjoy that. I also have a small pond with a pump in it that goes to a waterfall/stream. If I raise duckweed, do you think I'll have a problem with the pump, or is duckweed only a surface plant?

Thanks!
Angela

It's my understanding duckweed likes still water. I have a start of it I got from a local pond and the main plant is on the surface only, but there are tiny "bead" looking things that are actually under the water, not sure if they are the plant in some sort of pre emergent state or something entirly different.

 

[Frecs]

I'm reading this thread through before commenting directly but I wanted to share this... my 2.5/3 week old chicks love dirt! and plant roots! They are not yet too crazy about the greens. I just gave them a mustard plant including roots and attached dirt. They went nuts -- for the dirt and roots! Last week I did it with kale, they cleaned all the dirt and fine roots (and worm...and grub...) off but left the green part alone. When I've been able to take them out for a sunny day "field trip", they experiment with the above ground greens but mostly go for whatever is below ground.

 

[henney penny]

Dirt is great for new chicks it keeps them form getting pasty butt.

 

[Frecs]

Dirt is great for new chicks it keeps them form getting pasty butt.

That's good to know since they seem to want to make a diet out of it! That and roots. They weren't too crazy about the button mushroom I gave them...a couple of them gave it a side stare and quick attack peck before putting distance between them and the MONSTER MUSHROOM.

An odd thing I've noticed and was wondering what other more experienced chicken owners think of it. The first time our chicks were offered a worm (from our garden) they got all excited and played a game of worm football before finally eating it. Well, we went down to the store and purchased some red wigglers. They were a bit less enthusiastic but have eaten a few of them but mostly when offered one, they give them the side stare. I don't understand. Does it make sense to anyone else?

Edit: Rather than make another post, I'm just adding to this one...

Having read through the entire thread at this point I wanted to add some of my plans since I didn't see anyone mention them specifically. I am also starting to raise meat rabbits and am going to try setting up a vermicomposting system under the rabbit cages. If it works, I should have a steady supply of worms and other bugs to feed to the hens. I figure once I have that system going, I can toss a shovel or two of vermicomposted rabbit manure into the chicken tractor for the hens to work through to get the worms and bugs and spread the manure for me.

Son wants to try his hand at raising mealworms so I'll let him give it a go. The compost worms seem like an easier bet but it doesn't hurt to also have mealworms.

I will be growing a lot of vegetables and herbs and in a few years my fruit plantings will begin to produce. The hens will get gleanings from those crops. Also, last year we discovered that about a dozen neighbors with pear trees did not want to bother harvesting the fruit. We gathered as much as we could process. This year, we will gather more because we can give the excess to the hens. I am going to be seeding the "lawn" with more clover and timothy and "weeds' for both the rabbits and the hens. I will also be planting some BOSS, quinoa, millet, and amaranth -- we'll see how much we actually get out of that.

We have several hunters who will give us portions of their venison but last year was not a good season for hunters. Hopefully, this year will be better but generally what venison we get we or the dogs eat. The girls might get a scrap or two...we'll see. I want to see if I can locate either a fishmonger or a fishing boat that will save their scraps for me.

In the thread, there was a discussion about cost effectiveness of raising chickens. Part of my hope is to integrate the various elements of my micro-homestead in such a way that each element contributes to the other elements and helps reduce the cost of each element. Still, over the short term it might be cheaper to go down to the store or farmers market and buy eggs. But, I believe that it won't always be possible and WTSHTF I want to be set and able to feed my family healthy food produced right here on my land. The other thing is -- buy raising my own, I know how it was raised, how it was treated, and how it died. I know what chemicals were or were not used. It's worth the effort and expense to know those things.

 

[galanie]

You'll find the mealworms to be a lot better project for feeding the girls than the earthworms. Earthworms just don't multiply at the rate mealworms do. They are very good for turning that rabbit stuff into great fertilizer though.

 

[galanie]

Update on my Korean Natural Farming experiments.

I can't tell you for sure it was the Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) I made from my comfrey or not, but that parsley is going nuts. Absolutely nuts. I put some on some other plants too and they're all shooting up. I put Water Soluble Calcium (WSC) in the mix for the tomato plants since there's a problem here with them getting enough of that and wow are the tomato plants going nuts. I've already got some about to bloom!

But then they are all dressed with tons of compost. So it's hard to say if this one thing or that one thing is having the most effect but together, it's working well.

I got a pile of IMO3 going and wow. Traditional gardening says that you can't make a successful compost pile that is only 8"x15"x24". Hah. That pile is HOT HOT HOT. I didnt' have enough bran so I used dry straw, grass, and leaves chopped up mixed with the bran. Mixed in the IMO2 and set up the pile in the evening, by next morning it is steaming hot.

 

[RaZ]

ll.
I got a pile of IMO3 going and wow. Traditional gardening says that you can't make a successful compost pile that is only 8"x15"x24". Hah. That pile is HOT HOT HOT. I didnt' have enough bran so I used dry straw, grass, and leaves chopped up mixed with the bran. Mixed in the IMO2 and set up the pile in the evening, by next morning it is steaming hot.

I took a Master Composter class and the instructor said that it was "impossible" for a backyard compost pile to get hot. I had been monitoring the temperature and it was routinely 150 degrees, and she still would tell that it was impossible. Ya gotta love an expert.

 

[galanie]

I took a Master Composter class and the instructor said that it was "impossible" for a backyard compost pile to get hot. I had been monitoring the temperature and it was routinely 150 degrees, and she still would tell that it was impossible. Ya gotta love an expert. 

 

Yep. The problem with so many "experts" is that they earned that status from reading what someone else wrote. Not experience. Had that expert the experience he should have had, he'd have known it was indeed possible. Agreed, gotta love an expert.