Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[RaZ]

www.huffingtonpost.com%2F2012%2F02%2F09%2Framen-digestion_n_1263825.html%3F%26ncid%3Dedlinkusaolp00000009&h=lAQGzlhCYAQGeLhPF7re9iEIDap5CM4O9TKqqFUng_MgpOg&enc=AZM8H_S4f88r8T--PhVMNO2D01xj55lSJMhnCimY-iz16nvZhHcDS49-5aoQviC5nPuoN7iNVBk0DA5M1H067OOX


Not sure if the link will work, but it shows the digestion process of Ramen noodles and Gatorade. Pretty scary.

 

[SouthDakotan]

Not a clue as to good price or not. But do you mean to feed them to chickens? I have a fig tree, hoping for a good harvest this year, bought netting to protect from birds.

Have you considered putting something on the fungus to help the fig treat against the attack? I don't mean chemical "fungicide" but perhaps a natural alternative of some kind. Or consider cutting out the fungus areas so the tree can recover. Most fungus is basically "mushrooms" growing on the wood, but there are things that will counter it.

I am sitting here trying to remember what works. Perhaps even putting something as simple as a mirror or reflective object near the tree, directly light directly onto the fungus area. Most HATE direct light. They hate dry conditions too.

I'd love to get a fig tree cutting(s) as I'd love to experiment with growing some trees indoors. I know that sounds weird, but I grow a Satsuma Orange in a large container and bring it inside each winter. I get a small crop of satsuma oranges from it each year as well. I'm starting a olive tree, a lime and a lemon; I also have a 4ft avocado tree. But I'm still hoping to get some fig cuttings some day.

I hope you can save your fig from the onslaught of the fungus! Good luck.

 

[SouthDakotan]

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.

Hello Kassaundra, Eric (my partner) and I were just talking about growing duck weed in some tanks. You said you got yours from a local pond. Was it wild duckweed? I mean it wasn't being cultivated? We were thinking duckweed could be reared in tanks (livestock style tanks) and then used as additional "sprouts" for chickens and ducks, especially in winter months when we have difficulty having fresh "greens". The tanks of course would be inside, with fish in them also. This way, they'd be doing double duty, raising fish and raising duckweed. They'd be indoors only because our winters are so extreme that it would destroy any live plant matter floating on the surface during the ice. Our blacksmith shop's quench tank is 55 gals and becomes a solid block of ice each winter. So we know any other tank would too unless heated with a livestock tank heater or is indoors in a building & heated.

I'm quite interested in how you are using duck weed.

Sincerely Anisah

 

[Kassaundra]

Anisah, first of all I love that name. Yes my duck weed is wild, I guess you can buy it online, but I couldn't find any local source everyone looked at you like you have three heads when you ask. I plan on supplementing the chickens food w/ it green and high in protien.

 

[galanie]

As for the fad diets - if you HAVE to eat gluten free or whatever because of an allergy, that's entirely different from following the next fad diet. The figs, I've no idea what fresh figs sell for since I never see them for sale. My neighbor has a brown turkey fig tree though and wow do I love those fresh figs!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

As for the fad diets - if you HAVE to eat gluten free or whatever because of an allergy, that's entirely different from following the next fad diet. The figs, I've no idea what fresh figs sell for since I never see them for sale. My neighbor has a brown turkey fig tree though and wow do I love those fresh figs!!!

I just planted one this spring, can't wait to try them, I have never eaten a fresh fig, never even seen one for sale anywhere.

 

[triplepurpose]

As for the fad diets - if you HAVE to eat gluten free or whatever because of an allergy, that's entirely different from following the next fad diet.

Absolutely! Sorry if that wasn't clear! I have a good friend with a similar wheat intolerance. And we are off topic--but people have made some very wonderful contributions!

You know, though, speaking of food allergies and such, one more thought and then I'll shut up: I've heard about people who were told they were lactose intolerant, who found they actually could drink milk once they tried it in its authentic, unpasteurized, natural state. Similarly, some people find they can digest wheat much better when they eat authentic sourdough. "Sourdough" is how bread has been made since the beginning of agriculture up until a few decades ago when instant yeast was invented, and so not surprisingly it yields a more digestible and more flavorful food.

Much of the food we have now does not resemble what our ancestors have eaten since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of farming), and is often in different and less nutritious forms that merely mimic the real deal while reacting with the body very differently. For example, "real beef" is grass-fed (at least mostly), "real bread" is sourdough (and not the processed, imitation kind), "real dairy" is unpasteurized, "real eggs" come from chickens that get to eat wild bugs and weeds, and "real soy products" are fermented in special ways and eaten sparingly--just to name a few. The Weston Price Foundation is a good source of info on this sort of thing, BTW.

This phenomenon obviously doesn't account for all cases of food intolerances and allergies but I think it plays a big role in the current epidemic.
But I'm not a nutritionist or an expert on food allergies, and besides, we've gotten waaaaaay off topic here (I plead guilty as well), so I should probably just shut up now and let us get back on topic...

 

[triplepurpose]

To bring things back on topic, you all might be interested to know I recently gave a workshop on chicken keeping, and included a demonstration of my localized, personal adaption of the Korean Natural Farming feeding system discussed a while back. It was probably the most popular segment of the workshop! People were really intrigued by the idea of home-feeding and eager to run with it. Not surprising since feed is something like thirty dollars a bag here these days...

On a separate note, I also recently came across something interesting in the book the Resilient Gardener that I wanted to throw down here. The author puts out feed for her free-ranging layer ducks in two separate troughs, one for "high protein" and one for "high energy." (a third container could have the oyster and grit, or whatever). Which means that one feed trough has chick starter or game feed or (or theoretically, the home-sourced equivalent, grubs, whey, whatever); and the other has scratch (or the home equivalent, squash, mangels). This way, she says, the ducks can supplement the most appropriate mix of carbs and protein according to what they are NOT getting by foraging.

In theory, this is more efficient feed use, if a substantial amount of the birds diets is indeed seasonal forage. What do you all think of this idea or something similar? Or at least, of providing "protein" and "energy" components SEPARATELY, so the birds can eat just what they need?

 

[DawnCols]

I've gotten some ideas from this thread I'm eager to try.

I haven't tried to eliminate commercial feed just yet, but I do try to supplement with healthy foods. I like a lot of the homesteading type ideas, but the ideas I've seen that involve lots of grinding and mixing huge quantities don't seem practical for my flock of three pet hens. Here's what I have tried so far.

Successes:
* I bought a cheap bag of mixed birdseed at Big Lots (I think a finch mix?) that is mostly whole seeds: millet, canary grass seed, oat groats, whole wheet, milo. I sprout it in jars in my kitchen and give them some daily. They love it!

* I give them a couple ounces every day of kitchen fruit/vegetable scraps--they especially love strawberry tops

* I feed them grubs I find in the garden, and later garden rejects

Yet-to-decide if successful:
* I made a 4' X 4' frame that I stretched chicken wire over. I planted oats, red crimson clover and field peas. I thought they'd graze the top, but they can pull the oat seedlings right out of the ground. So I have fenced it off and am waiting for it to grow out more.

Failure:
I tried planting a tomato plant of their own, thinking they'd enjoy the tomatoes. It took them one day to kill the plant.

 

[Kassaundra]

I've gotten some ideas from this thread I'm eager to try.

I haven't tried to eliminate commercial feed just yet, but I do try to supplement with healthy foods. I like a lot of the homesteading type ideas, but the ideas I've seen that involve lots of grinding and mixing huge quantities don't seem practical for my flock of three pet hens. Here's what I have tried so far.

Successes:
* I bought a cheap bag of mixed birdseed at Big Lots (I think a finch mix?) that is mostly whole seeds: millet, canary grass seed, oat groats, whole wheet, milo. I sprout it in jars in my kitchen and give them some daily. They love it!

* I give them a couple ounces every day of kitchen fruit/vegetable scraps--they especially love strawberry tops

* I feed them grubs I find in the garden, and later garden rejects

Yet-to-decide if successful:
* I made a 4' X 4' frame that I stretched chicken wire over. I planted oats, red crimson clover and field peas. I thought they'd graze the top, but they can pull the oat seedlings right out of the ground. So I have fenced it off and am waiting for it to grow out more.

Failure:
I tried planting a tomato plant of their own, thinking they'd enjoy the tomatoes. It took them one day to kill the plant.

It your going to put a plant in there run area you need to protect the plant until it gets large enough that they can't kill it. Like for the tomatoe putting a chicken wire fence around it or something like that.